Kick-off in seven more games.

And after what we've seen this Championship weekend, anything could happen in the next 90 minutes!

Samantha Fletcher
Final Score at the The Hawthorns

Five minutes before kick-off and new Swansea boss Vitor Matos made a point to walk out onto the middle of the pitch to applaud the travelling fans. He was met warmly with cheers and applause.

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Ipswich, in fourth and in the Premier League last season, beaten on Friday night.

Stoke, in second, beaten on Saturday lunchtime.

Leicester, in the Premier Leage last season, also beaten today.

There's no room in the Championship for big-time Charlies!

Will leaders Coventry and Middlesbrough, in third, fare any better?

Who is going to stop Coventry?

On current evidence, probably not Charlton, but then again this is the Championship.

Only York City (50) have scored more goals than Coventry's 47 so far this season in the top six levels of English football.

Charlton have conceded eight goals in their past two outings - as many as they had in their 11 previous games - Sky Blues fans might be licking their lips today.

We can sit here all afternoon and wax lyrical about Coventry with boss Frank Lampard marking a year in charge this week.

"We have found different ways to win games but still keeping a feeling of what we are as a team," the former Chelsea head coach told BBC CWR.

Blowing teams away has been the main way they have won games but Charlton have proved they can mix it on their return to the Championship - a 3-0 win at Ipswich last month being a case in point.

But shipping five goals at home to Southampton last Saturday and three at Stoke in midweek has forced boss Nathan Jones into action with the signing of former Montpellier and Wolfsburg defender Jerome Roussillon on a "short-term" contract.

Whoever is in defence for the Addicks may be in for a busy afternoon.

Having said his hellos to the Middlesbrough players and crowd during the week, new head coach Kim Hellberg has his big day this afternoon.

Derby County visit the Riverside as Hellberg prepares for his first game outside his native Sweden.

He takes charge only outside the top two on goal difference, but up against an in-form Derby side, who have shot up the table with six wins in seven games to lie one point outside the play-offs.

Hellberg made his name by securing successive second-place finishes with Hammarby in the Allsvenskan.

Finish second with Boro this season and legendary status on Teesside would be assured for Hellberg.

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Has November been a month-long audition for the role of Southampton boss? If so, you’d have to say Tonda Eckert is word perfect.

The 32-year-old coach, who stepped up to take temporary charge after Will Still’s brief spell at St Mary’s came to an inglorious end, hasn’t put a foot wrong so far.

Four games, four victories – the last two by sizeable margins – for a side that had previously mustered just one win since the opening day of the season and suddenly the revitalised Saints are marching up the table again.

Now they are aiming for a third successful raid on London under Eckert’s leadership – having already triumphed at QPR and Charlton, Southampton face another tricky assignment today against Millwall.

The Lions, who begin the day in fourth place, have stuttered recently but ended their four-match winless run courtesy of Femi Azeez’s second-half strike against Sheffield Wednesday in midweek.

Overall, Millwall have been strong lately at the Den – winning four of their last five games on home soil and conceding only one goal in that time.

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Unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Possibly.

It feels like Wrexham are in the flow of the Championship after an unsteady start which had some even questioning the position of three-time promotion-winning head coach Phil Parkinson.

Seven games unbeaten and four straight home wins later, they are heading in the right direction. It is also 362 minutes since they last conceded a league goal - classic Parkinson?

That sort of form may be an ominous sign for any side heading to North Wales, unless you're Blackburn, who quite like clocking up miles on the road.

Only the leaders, Coventry (20) have taken more points away than the 15 managed by Rovers so far this season and they are looking for a fourth successive win away from Ewood Park.

All this despite injury issues which has seen the likes of teenage defender George Pratt thrown in at the deep end for their past two games having been recalled from a loan at Chorley.

Can promise you, it is a message worth scrolling back to read...

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We've not even reached December yet, but West Brom and Swansea can't really wait for Christmas to get what they really want - three Championship points.

The Baggies have won out of seven, whereas the Swans have only won one from eight, with four successive losses and have a new head coach in Portuguese Vitor Matos.

He lost on debut against Derby on Tuesday, so he'll want a reaction today. West Brom couldn't hang on to beat Birmingham the following night so pressure moves onto this one for Ryan Mason.

A regular Premier League fixture once upon a time, this has become a Championship staple in recent years with more chance of one side slipping further right now.

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Over a third of the season gone and Preston North End in the promotion shake-up - not sure too many would have predicted that.

Now they make the trip across the Pennines to belaguered Sheffield Wednesday aiming to inflict more home misery on the Owls.

Wednesday, stuck on minus four points because of administration, have not won on home turf since April and have lost their last three.

Preston this season have been competitive in every game, usually hard to beat and will look to add three points to their tally to keep many more fancied sides at bay.

However, North End fans will tell you they usually fare better as underdogs so they won't regard this fixture as a guaranteed three points by a long stretch.

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Three months, 13 games, no wins. Those are stark facts for Norwich City supporters to contemplate even while averting their gaze from the league table.

In case any masochistic fans were minded to sneak a glance at the table, they’d see the Canaries anchored in 23rd place, seven points from safety – and, as they won’t need any reminding, yet to win at Carrow Road this season.

That unwelcome statistic very nearly changed on Tuesday, when Norwich led Oxford in the 95th minute – only for Filip Krastev to snatch an equaliser and leave the Canaries with little to sing about again.

Their recently-appointed head coach Philippe Clement told BBC Radio Norfolk: "I know there is still a lot of work to be done. The team knows too, but you see everybody is working hard."

Opponents QPR have picked up some momentum since the recent international break, coming from behind to beat Hull last weekend and following it up with a 1-0 success at Blackburn three days ago.

However, Rangers have not won on any of their last 10 trips to Carrow Road since Martin Rowlands netted the only goal there in September 2008.

Peter Swan
Former Hull City player on BBC Radio Humberside

The first half, they were set up much better than us. Football is all about what you can do different to get back into the game.

The second half performance was different class, Belloumi made a massive difference.

We've got the three points with a fantastic finish from Gelhardt, that's what it's all about.

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Anis Mehmeti's goal at Fratton Park moves Bristol City up to fourth place in the Championship table and drops Portsmouth into the bottom three where they will finish the day barring Swansea getting tanked at West Brom.

Joe Gelhardt's late, late show for Hull City boosts them into the top six and Stoke could lose second spot come five o'clock.

And whisper it, but Sheffield United are on the move...

Mike Sheron
Former Stoke City player on BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke have been playing with loads of composure and then all of a sudden they concede a goal and we lose the dominance of the game.

Hull looked like they had a lot more energy and variation to their play in the second half. We didn't dominate the ball like we would have wanted to.

Goals change games all the time and when Stoke conceded it made the difference.

Carl Asaba
Former Sheffield United striker on BBC Radio Sheffield

Absolutely brilliant, fantastic result. Tense second half, but nine points in six days, you can't ask for more.

There's so much more for this team to give. We didn't have an outlet in the second half but our defenders weathered the storm, they stood firm.

We're seeing a team who's definitely turning a corner.

Matty Fryatt
Former Leicester City striker on Radio Leicester

The first half was dismal in so many ways.

It's frustrating to come away with nothing, there was hope in the second half which really kills you.

It was a lot more positive second half but the damage was done in the first half.

And still the teams struggle to separate themselves. Both sets of players and members of the coaching teams still on the pitch.

Lots of anger around.

Hull grabbing a win from under Stoke's noses has brought things to the boil.

Unsavoury scenes at the final whistle as players square up to each other and objects are thrown from the stands towards some of the Hull players.

Referee Lee Doughty brandishes three yellow cards to Hull pair Kyle Joseph and John Lundstram and Stoke defender Ashley Phillips.

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If you are going to study games of two halves, this will be the case study!

Stoke excellent in the first half, leading through Sorba Thomas's wonderful volley and denied by Ivor Pandur's excellent saves.

Hull transformed after the break with Semi Ajayi and Joe Gelhardt to thank for a turnaround that did not look likely from the Tigers.