Championship: Leeds v Fulham, Stoke v Middlesbrough and more – live!

I have seen quite a bit of Harrison Reed since the restart. He certainly gives off the impression of being the very definition of a ‘tidy player’.

Warnock is having an impact! Former Manchester United striker hits the first goal – and it could be a crucial one – of the Warnock era.

NO PENALTY! Fulham have claim for a penalty as Arter lays it off to Decordova-Reid six yards out but the Fulham man takes a bad touch and then chucks himself to the floor. The referee is having none of it.

Mitrovic claims for handball after heading the ball against White’s back. Admittedly, the referee has missed him elbow the defender in the face already, so there is a chance he could have agreed with the striker again. Instead the Serb gets a corner and laughed at by Ayling.

A long ball over the top from Fulham makes its way to Mitrovic, who lets it bounce and then flashes a volley well wide from 20 yards out.

Another one for Hull! Scott on his full debut finds a lot of space in the box, allowing him to calmly head a pinpoint cross into the corner.

Luckily, the man Jolly has a stat.

Costa does well down the right, gets into the box before puling it back for an onrushing Bamford who calmly slots it into the corner.

Mitrovic has a more positive impact by flicking it out to Knockaert but he drags his show well wide from the edge of the area.

Will we ever get over what Mitrovic has just done? It is possibly the stupidest thing I’ve seen all season. At least the striker has had a haircut.

HOW IS THAT NOT A RED?! Mitrovic casually wanders over to White and whacks him across the face with his elbow but the referee misses it.

A very good start for the struggling Tigers as Magennis puts them into the lead.

The final whistle sounds at Oakwell and Pride Park. On another day that might look like a good point for Barnsley. On this particular day it looks like two dropped: Luton’s shock win leaves them bottom of the league. Derby, meanwhile, are three points off the play-offs.

Right – just time to make yourself a cuppa before the slew on 3pm kick-offs.

New Middlesbrough honcho Neil Warnock brings in Britt Assombalonga and Ashley Fletcher for his first game in charge, at Stoke. Boro have also announced this afternoon that non-scoring striker Rudy Gestede has left the club – his contract was up at the end of the month.

Some pre-match reading:

Team news from the big one at Elland Road:

Leeds: Meslier, Ayling, White, Cooper, Dallas, Phillips, Hélder Costa, Roberts, Klich, Harrison, Bamford
Fulham: Rodák, Odoi, Hector, Ream, Bryan, Reed, Cairney, Knockaert, De Cordova-Reid, Arter, Mitrovic

And it’s full-time in the early games: Cardiff beat Preston to tighten their grip on sixth, and two massive wins in and around the bottom, for Charlton against and for Luton against Swansea.

Cardiff makes the points safe. Robert Glatzel pounces on some hesitant defending, scurries towards goal and fires home via a defender’s shin.

Reading pull one back against the play-off hopefuls, Ben Hamer’s weak punch punished by Andy Rinomhota, who heads over the stranded keeper into an unguarded net.

And Cardiff retake the lead with another great goal – Nathaniel Mendez-Laing haring down the right, playing a one-two and slotting a tidy finish inside the near post. Superbly simple and simply superb.

Scenes at Swansea! It all kicks off after a truly magnificent succession of one, two, three, four, five vicious tackles! In the resulting melee Jordon Garrick puts in a left hook and is sent off. Marvellous stuff.

Thick and fast! Preston equalise almost immediately. It’s a bit of a scramble, with Joe Bennett initially doing well to block a shot from close range, but the ball breaks to Johnson who sweeps confidently home. All square.

And a potentially huge goal for the division’s bottom club. Izzy Brown crosses for James Collins to head in. Woodman gets a hand to it but can’t keep it out.

Cardiff boost their promotion hopes with a great head for Joe Ralls, who leaps high at the back post to meet Dion Sanderson’s deep cross. A very pleasing header.

Charlton cling on to their lead, Dillon Phillips making a point-blank save from Jordan Hugill. He should have put that away.

And just like that, it’s two. Bogle steams gloriously down the right and square into the box, Waghorn draws a clumsy foul from Moore, and Wayne Rooney rattles home the spot-kick. London buses.

Lovely strike to break the deadlock at Pride Park: Tom Lawrence latches on to Chris Martin’s layoff to curl home from the edge of the box for his 10th goal of the season.

JR writes in: “Does Junior Hoilett count as an almost but never was? I seem to remember people thinking he was real hot stuff about ten years ago. How about Andreas Weimann? I’m not sure what the expectations were for him but I remember thinking he was going to be pretty good a long time ago.”

You can have Hoilett, not so sure about Wiemann. Deal?

We’ve got a fairly decent sample size to work from now, so can we conclude that football without fans is of a much lower quality? As in, the football itself, rather than the atmosphere. One goal in five games in the Championship today, not a whole lot of excitement last weekend – and two watchable Premier League games out of 22 so far. Are players less fired up? Scared of getting injured? Taking fewer risks?

A flash of class at Pride Park, where Ovie Ejaria jinks past his marker on the byline and side-foots against the post. Great footwork to beat his man.

Millwall hit the woodwork at Oakwell, Shane Ferguson firing a free-kick against the crossbar.

Almost entirely goalless so far, and half-time in all the early kickoffs. Oh football, how we’ve missed you.

In the meantime, a good question from Joshua Reynolds: “Who are all the ‘almost but never were’ players currently plying their trade in the Championship besides Ravel Morrison, Jack Rodwell, and Scott Sinclair?”

Off the top of my head I can give you Aiden McGeady and Curtis Davies. Any more for any more?

(On an unrelated note, the Soccer Saturday panel are currently eulogising the talents of Phil Foden.)

And those fans are witnessing a decent performance – Charlton could easily be 2-0 up, but Macauley Bonne’s effort is matched by a decent save from Liam Kelly.

We’ve heard a lot about ‘plastic fans’ in recent years. Here’s some cardboard ones, at the Valley:

Remember when Scott Sinclair played for Man City? Alongside Jack Rodwell?

Or remember when he played for Plymouth? And did this:

Either way, he’s looking dangerous today, tricky and direct as ever.

Spurs loanee Cameron Carter-Vickers puts in a heroic bit of defending to keep Luton on level terms, winning a towering header in his box before charging down a shot. Just the sort of bravura battling our old friend Jose likes in a centre-back.

And we’ve kicked off at Pride Park and Oakwell. Barnsley need a win today.

Great chance for Junior Hoilett to give Cardiff the lead: the ball breaks to him on the edge of the box, but he snatches at the shot and slices it wide.

Some goings-on at Swansea, where Andre Ayew draws a great save from Simon Sluga, before Harry Cornick flashes his shot over the bar following a breakaway.

Wayne Rooney starts for Derby, who would be in touching distance of the play-off places if they win today. One last hurrah for the former golden boy? (One last season in the top flight…?)

Exclusive snap from Pride Park:

The first goal of the afternoon comes from south London, as Darren Pratley nods home from a corner to take the Addicks, as it stands, four points clear of the drop zone.

Down the other end at Deepdale, Adomah cuts in from the right and engineers shooting space, but scuffs the shot wide of the near post. The Bacuna larrups one from range, deflected wide. Goalless all round so far.

One to keep an eye on: Rhian Brewster, who has six goals for Swansea since joining on loan from Liverpool in January and scored twice in half an hour at the Riverside last weekend. There’s been lots of hype around him since he won the goalden boot at the U17 World Cup three years ago – this is the first run of games he’s had at senior level.

We’re under way in the early kickoffs. Early penalty appeal for Preston as Scott Sinclair takes an ostentatious tumble under a clumsy tackle.

As a selfless service to you, the reader, I will do my best to see out this five-hour blog without using the terms “eerie”, “unprecedented times” or “the new normal”. No mean feat in these, erm, unparalleled times.

Team news from the Valley!

Charlton: Phillips, Matthews, Lockyer, Pearce, Oshilaja, Pratley, Cullen, McGeady, Morgan, Bonne, Hemed.
QPR: Kelly, Rangel, Masterson, Barbet, Manning, Ball, Cameron, Osayi-Samuel, Chair, Eze, Hugill

I’ve seen a bit of QPR this season and can exclusively reveal that their two wingers, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Eberechi Eze, are good enough to give any side in the division serious problems. More importantly, they’re incredibly fun to watch. Looking forward to this.

The race for Championship playoff spots is a fascinating one. Only three points separate the teams from Preston in sixth to Derby in 12th and the latter certainly have the quality in their squad to put a run together.

This is what happened last night in the Championship:

Good morning!

Another big day in the Championship as teams fight for promotion and others battle to beat the drop.

Leeds hosting Fulham looks like the highlight of the day on paper, while in the early kick-offs Deepdale is the venue for an intriguing clash in the race for a playoff spot. Down at the bottom Middlesbrough head to Stoke City for Neil Warnock’s first game in charge in search of a much-needed win. Will he turn to Ravel Morrison to turn the tide? I will say no.

Here is the full fixture list for today:

• Charlton Athletic v Queens Park Rangers (12.30pm)
• Preston North End v Cardiff City (12.30pm)
• Swansea City v Luton Town (12.30pm)
• Barnsley v Millwall (1pm)
• Derby County v Reading (1pm)
• Birmingham City v Hull City (3pm)
• Leeds United v Fulham (3pm)
• Stoke City v Middlesbrough (3pm)
• Wigan Athletic v Blackburn Rovers (3pm)

Here we go!