Half-time reading: Will Magee has recapped Enzo Maresca’s 18-month tenure at Chelsea. It’s surprisingly easy to forget he made them world champions.
League Two half-times
Barnet 1-1 Crawley
Barrow 1-1 Salford
Bromley 1-0 Newport
Cambridge 1-0 Walsall
Colchester 0-0 MK Dons
Crewe 3-1 Cheltenham
Fleetwood 0-0 Grimsby
Harrogate 0-0 Tranmere
Notts County 0-0 Accrington
Oldham 0-1 Chesterfield
Shrewsbury 0-0 Bristol Rovers
Swindon 0-0 Gillingham
League One half-times
Doncaster 0-0 Bolton
Exeter 0-0 Luton
Leyton Orient 1-1 Wimbledon
Lincoln 0-0 Huddersfield
Mansfield 2-0 Bradford
Northampton 0-0 Stockport
Port Vale 0-1 Blackpool
Reading 2-0 Burton
Rotherham 0-0 Peterborough
Stevenage 0-0 Plymouth
Wigan 1-0 Barnsley
Wycombe 1-1 Cardiff
Updated
A couple of big goals in League Two: Ben Knight has put in-form Cambridge in front at home to Walsall, while leaders Bromley have broken the deadlock against Newport thanks to an own goal.
Championship half-times
Bristol City 2-0 Portsmouth
Charlton 0-1 Coventry
Derby 0-0 Middlesbrough
Hull 0-1 Stoke
Ipswich 2-1 Oxford
Preston 1-0 Sheffield Wed
QPR 0-0 Norwich
Southampton 0-0 Millwall
Swansea 0-0 West Brom
Watford 2-0 Birmingham
In League One, Mansfield have doubled their lead at home to Bradford, Lucas Akins heading home. Reading lead Burton 2-0 while in League Two, Cheltenham have pulled a goal back at Crewe, who lead 3-1.
GOAL! Hull 0-1 Stoke (Bozenik 39')
The form book is ripped up at the MKM Stadium, Robert Bozenik putting the Potters in front with a tap-in from Lamine Cisse’s cross.
GOAL! Ipswich 2-1 Oxford (Akpom 40')
Ipswich restore order at Portman Road, Chuba Akpom firing home to quickly put the hosts back in front.
Updated
GOAL! Watford 2-0 Birmingham (Ince 38')
Tom Ince doubles his tally and Watford’s lead, finishing off the rebound after James Beadle had saved his first effort. The hosts’ fine form continues, and the pressure mounts on Birmingham manager Chris Davies.
GOAL! Ipswich 1-1 Oxford (Lankshear 34')
An unexpected equaliser at Portman Road, Will Lankshear turning the ball home to get Oxford level, very much against the run of play.
Middlesbrough are without a goal in their last three games, and despite plenty of early pressure, they haven’t been able to break the drought at Pride Park yet.
League One: Mansfield have taken the lead at home to promotion-chasing Bradford, while Wimbledon are level at Leyton Orient thanks to a Demetri Mitchell own goal.
Also equalising are Wycombe, with Caolan Boyd-Munce levelling against Cardiff directly from a corner. Finally, bottom club Port Vale, who sacked manager Darren Moore on Sunday, are a goal down at home to Blackpool.
Updated
GOAL! Preston 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday (McCann 28')
Alistair McCann dribbles through the visiting defence and finishes tidily, for his first goal since October 2024.
GOAL! Bristol City 2-0 Portsmouth (Mehmeti 24')
Anis Mehmeti puts the hosts in charge at Ashton Gate, finishing clinically after a defensive error. Pompey have picked up seven points in their last three home games, but their away record is the Championship’s worst.
League Two latest: Barnet lead Crawley, Chesterfield are a goal up at Oldham and Crewe lead 2-0 at home to Cheltenham. Barrow v Salford, a fixture with undeniable rugby league vibes, is 1-1 after 20 minutes.
GOAL! Ipswich 1-0 Oxford (Philogene 16')
Ipswich make their early dominance count against struggling Oxford, who are yet to appoint Gary Rowett’s successor. It’s Jaden Philogene with the goal, which moves Ipswich up to second in the live table.
Updated
GOAL! Bristol City 1-0 Portsmouth (Randell 11')
Adam Randell breaks the deadlock at Ashton Gate with an absolute rocket from at least 25 yards out. One to add to the early goals of the year list – and only slightly spoiled by the hosts wearing their white away kit today.
Updated
More on Wrexham’s early victory at Ewood Park, which leaves Blackburn mired in the bottom six.
GOAL! Watford 1-0 Birmingham (Ince 9')
The Championship’s form team take an early lead at Vicarage Road, Tom Ince volleying home for Javi Gracia’s side. And no, it’s not 2019 again – Gracia returned to the Hornets for a second stint in October.
The League One leaders are also in front – Chris Willock has put Cardiff 1-0 up at Wycombe with a brilliant finish from a narrow angle. Elsewhere, Leyton Orient lead Wimbledon and Wigan are a goal up at home to Barnsley.
Updated
GOAL! Charlton 0-1 Coventry (Simms 3)
An ideal start for the Championship leaders, Ellis Simms turning home Milan van Ewijk’s cross to give them an early lead at the Valley.
Updated
Here we go
We’re under way around the grounds in the 3pm kick-offs.
“You mentioned second-bottom Newport’s visit to leaders Bromley – just above them there’s a ding-dong in my old stamping ground of Shrewsbury, with fourth-bottom Town hosting third-bottom Bristol Rovers in the first (of what may be many) big relegation six-pointer of 2026,” writes Jeremy Boyce. “I’m predicting a festive 0-1 and the second managerial departure of 2026 (Michael Appleton). Cheers!”
Full time in the early kick-off, and it’s finished Blackburn 0-2 Wrexham. Sam Smith opened the scoring before Ollie Rathbone smashed in an early goal-of-the-year contender for the visitors, who climb to eighth in the table.
And here’s your final two Championship team sheets. You can follow all the live games and see line-ups in our match centre.
Hull v Stoke
Hull: Pandur, Coyle, Egan, Hughes, Famewo, Slater, Crooks, Joseph, Gyabi, Millar, McBurnie.
Subs: Phillips, Akintola, Ndala, Hadziahmetovic, Furlong, Destan, Ashbee, Palmer, McCarthy.
Stoke: Simkin, Talovierov, Phillips, Wilmot, Gibson, Lawal, Rigo, Thomas, Bae, Cisse, Bozenik.
Subs: Bonham, Bickerton, Agina, Seko, Nzonzi, Manhoef, Fawunmi, Gallagher, Mubama.
Preston v Sheffield Wednesday
Preston: Iversen, Offiah, Storey, Hughes, Whiteman, Valentin, Devine, McCann, Lewis, Smith, Osmajic.
Subs: Walton, Lindsay, Keane, Jebbison, Frokjaer-Jensen, Thompson, Dobbin,
Small, Potts.
Sheffield Wednesday: Charles, Iorfa, Otegbayo, Cooper, Thornton, Palmer, Bannan, McNeill, Amass, Cadamarteri, Ingelsson.
Subs: Horvath, Fusire, Jamal Lowe, Redmond, Shipston, Johnson, McGhee, Emery,
Onukwuli.
More team news …
Swansea v West Brom
Swansea: Vigouroux, Key, Cabango, Burgess, Tymon, Goncalo Franco, Stamenic, Ronald, Yalcouye, Inoussa, Widell.
Subs: Fisher, Fulton, Vipotnik, Eom, Samuels-Smith, Wales, Casey, Galbraith, Sam Parker.
West Brom: Wildsmith, Campbell, Phillips, Taylor, Styles, Diakite, Mowatt, Iling-Junior, Johnston, Ahearne-Grant, Heggebo.
Subs: Griffiths, Mepham, Bielik, Molumby, Maja, Dike, Price, Bostock, Dupont.
QPR v Norwich
QPR: Nardi, Mbengue, Dunne, Cook, Norrington-Davies, Smyth, Madsen, Hayden, Dembele, Kone, Burrell.
Subs: Hamer, Morrison, Field, Morgan, Vale, Varane, Kolli, Poku, Saito.
Norwich: Kovacevic, Fisher, McConville, Cordoba, Chrisene, Mattsson, McLean, Wright, Jurasek, Schwartau, Sargent.
Subs: Grimshaw, Stacey, Darling, Mahovo, Springett, Ben Slimane, Marcondes, Makama, Kvistgaarden.
Updated
In case you missed it last night (what, did you have other plans?), Gabon v Côte d’Ivoire at Afcon was a belter of a game. Gabon led 2-0 but lost 3-2, ending their campaign with three narrow defeats. The Gabonese government’s response may be a touch heavy-handed …
Charlton v Coventry
Charlton: Kaminski, Burke, Jones, Bell, Coventry, Bree, Rankin-Costello, Berry, Campbell, Leaburn, Kelman.
Subs: Mannion, Gillesphey, Docherty, Carey, Olaofe, Apter, Gough, Fullah, Knibbs.
Coventry: Rushworth, Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching, Grimes, van Ewijk, Allen, Eccles, Kesler-Hayden, Simms, Wright.
Subs: Wilson, Rudoni, Sakamoto, Mason-Clark, Bidwell, Woolfenden, Brau, Andrews.
Ipswich v Oxford
Ipswich Town: Walton, Furlong, O’Shea, Kipre, Davis, Matusiwa, Cajuste, Walle, Nunez, Philogene-Bidace, Akpom.
Subs: Palmer, Burns, Taylor, Young, Johnson, McAteer, Greaves, Azon, Jack Clarke.
Oxford United: Cumming, Long, Helik, Brown, Currie, Vaulks, De Keersmaecker, Placheta, Goodrham, Lankshear, Krastev.
Subs: Ingram, Mark Harris, Luke Harris, Spencer, Mills, Bradshaw, Leigh, Dembele, Romeny.
Bristol City v Portsmouth
Bristol City: O’Leary, Tanner, Vyner, Atkinson, McCrorie, Randell, Knight, Borges, Twine, Mehmeti, Jakobsen.
Subs: Lumley, Pring, Hirakawa, Dickie, Roberts, Pecover, Armstrong, Meerholz, Bell.
Portsmouth: Schmid, Devlin, Shaughnessy, Poole, Swanson, Dozzell, Le Roux, Segecic, Swift, Bowat, Kirk.
Subs: Bursik, Williams, Matthews, Umeh, Farrell, Blair, Chaplin, Singerr, Yang.
Updated
More Championship team news …
Southampton v Millwall
Southampton: Bazunu, Harwood-Bellis, Wood-Gordon, Stephens, Jelert, Downes, Bragg, Manning, Scienza, Matsuki, Archer.
Subs: McCarthy, Quarshie, Welington, Fellows, Jander, Williams, Robinson, Azaz, Armstrong.
Millwall: Crocombe, Crama, Taylor, Cooper, Sturge, Leonard, Doughty, Langstaff, Neghli, Ballo, Azeez.
Subs: Benda, McNamara, Mitchell, Emakhu, Bryan, Matthews, Bangura-Williams, Harding, Howland.
Watford v Birmingham
Watford: Selvik, Abankwah, Alleyne, Pollock, Bola, Maamma, Kyprianou, Louza, Ince, Chakvetadze, Kjerrumgaard.
Subs: Baxter, Keben, Sissoko, Semedo, Morris, Nampalys Mendy, Petris, Baah, Irankunda.
Birmingham City: Beadle, Sampsted, Neumann, Robinson, Cochrane, Iwata, Paik, Roberts, Willumsson, Anderson, Furuhashi.
Subs: Allsop, Cashin, Mazwi, Leonard, Isichei, Fujimoto, Koumas, Dykes, Ducksch.
Updated
We’re just a few hours into the new year, and a Premier League manager has already left his job. Here’s more on Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea departure – and talks he held with his former club.
Let’s run through some team news, starting at Pride Park.
Derby v Middlesbrough
Derby County: Zetterstrom; Langas, Sanderson, Clarke; Elder, Ward, Adams, Thompson, Clark; Brewster, Agyemang.
Subs: O’Donnell, Forsyth, Batth, Blackett-Taylor, Weimann, Salvesen, Jackson, Brereton Diaz, Travis.
Middlesbrough: Brynn; Brittain, Ayling, Targett, Bangura; Hackney, Morris, Whittaker, Burgzorg; Kaly Sene, Conway.
Subs: McLaughlin, Gilbert, Browne, Hamilton, Nypan, Silvera, Hansen,
Kante, Chaplin.
Updated
Preamble
As a new year begins, the race to reach the Premier League is – even by the Championship’s usual standards – absolutely wide open. Coventry remain the clear front-runners, but their blistering early form has slowed in recent weeks; Frank Lampard will seek to start the new year on a high against out-of-form Charlton today.
Behind them, Middlesbrough (at Derby), Ipswich (at home to Oxford) and Hull City (at home to Stoke) will look to keep up the chase. Elsewhere, Southampton host Millwall, eight places but just seven points above their hosts in the table. The division’s form side, Watford, host Birmingham, who are 15th but still in reach of the playoffs.
There’s also a full programme in League One – with leaders Cardiff going to Wycombe and second-placed Lincoln hosting Huddersfield – and League Two, where leaders Bromley welcome second-bottom Newport, and chasers Swindon and Walsall face Gillingham and Cambridge respectively. So grab a Berocca and get comfortable.
