Another weekend of EFL Championship action concluded on Saturday afternoon, with over half of this weekend’s tight contests ending in draws. Here are the storylines from matchweek 7 of the EFL Championship.
Leicester City salvages a point at the Hawthorns
The weekend kicked off with an important Friday night fixture as Leicester City traveled to the Hawthorns for a clash with West Bromwich Albion. Leicester came into the game in fourth place, just one point ahead of West Brom in seventh. However, both sides had gone two matches without a win.
Leicester quickly asserted dominance over possession, probing the West Brom defence, who sat back. The visitors nearly took the lead early when Jordan Ayew flashed a shot across goal, but it was West Brom who struck first against the run of play.
Nat Phillips moved West Brom quickly from back to front, playing a long pass into the feet of striker Aune Heggebo. The Norwegian flicked the ball around the corner and into the path of Samuel Iling-Junior.
The Aston Villa loanee drove at the Leicester back line, who were scrambling to get back. He dragged the ball across a lunging Wout Faes and rolled it past the keeper to give West Brom an early lead.
The rest of the match continued in much the same fashion. Leicester controlled possession while West Brom stayed compact and looked to hit them on the counter.
West Brom largely restricted the visitors to speculative efforts from distance.
In the second half, Leicester came out stronger, pressing higher up the pitch and raising the tempo. Manager Marti Cifuentes made several attacking changes in an effort to change the game, bringing on 16-year-old winger Jeremy Monga, as well as strikers Julian Carranza and Bobby Reid.
At first, the changes didn’t seem to make much of a difference. West Brom defended well, and the lack of a target man up front meant that Leicester weren’t finishing their passing moves with a shot in the box.
The home side should have buried the game in the 89th minute. Jed Wallace whipped a free kick at the Leicester goal, and Jakub Stolarczyk could only parry it into the path of substitute striker Josh Maja, who somehow blasted the ball over the crossbar from point-blank range.
Despite the missed effort, it looked like the home side would escape with a win.
But in the 93rd minute of stoppage time, Leicester won a corner. West Brom cleared the initial cross but only out to Harry Winks, who played the ball out wide to Abdul Fatawu. Fatawu cut in and floated a cross to the back post, where Decordova-Reid wound up and volleyed towards goal. The shot deflected off the boot of defender Nat Phillips and in.
Leicester deserved their equalizer, but supporters will be frustrated by the lack of chances created despite having the ball. They finished the game with just one shot on target from 12 efforts with 59% possession.
Meanwhile, despite such a great start, West Brom have only managed one point from their last three matches, a worrying trend for Ryan Mason’s side.
“I’m not here just for good performances and deserving to win. I’m here, and everyone here at this football club is here to win, and we’re not happy when we don’t, especially when we play so well and deserve so much more,” Mason said after the match.
Coventry City cruise past ten-man Birmingham City to go second
Coventry City entered the weekend as one of just two unbeaten teams in the EFL Championship. However, Frank Lampard’s side hadn’t won a match since their 7-1 victory over QPR in matchweek three.
They faced a visit from Birmingham City, who’d got off to an up-and-down start, winning two of their first three before losing two in a row. However, Lyndon Dykes’ late winner against Swansea City secured all three points for them last weekend.
Coventry controlled the ball early and took the lead in the 15th minute.
Birmingham City failed to clear Milan Van Ewijk’s long throw-in from the box, and Liam Kitching got a shot on target. Goalkeeper Ryan Allsop spilled the ball in front of goal, and Brandon Thomas-Asante was the only player to react, pouncing on the ball to make it 1-0 Coventry.
Birmingham City struggled to make inroads into the Coventry half, while the home side threatened with quick long-ball counters to striker Haji Wright.
In the 42nd minute, a Thomas-Asante long ball found Wright just past the halfway line, but defender Jack Robinson dragged him down before he had the chance to run on goal. The referee issued a second yellow card to Robinson, sending the struggling Birmingham City down to ten men.
The home side dominated the game from that point on, controlling 70% possession in the second half and completing over 500 passes.
They got their second goal just three minutes into the second half. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s cross found Josh Eccles unmarked at the back post, who headed back across the goal. His header bounced off the legs of defender Bright Osayi-Samuel, and unfortunately for the Nigerian, it went into his own goal.
In the 77th minute, Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth booted the ball over the heads of the entire Birmingham City team, sending striker Ellis Simms through on goal. The striker couldn’t beat the keeper, but once again, Allsop spilled his save into the path of Viktor Torp, who blasted it into the open goal.
After this comfortable 3-0 win, Coventry City jump to second in the league, four points behind Middlesbrough, who drew with Southampton this weekend.
Birmingham City will blame the red card for this defeat, but truthfully, they didn’t look like troubling the home side even at full strength. The newly promoted side sits firmly mid-table, in 11th place with three wins, three losses, and one draw.
Chris Wilder finally gets Sheffield United on the board
Going into the weekend, Sheffield United had lost every competitive match they’d played since qualifying for the EFL Championship playoff final last season.
The Blades sacked manager Ruben Selles after losing their first five EFL Championship matches and replaced him with manager Chris Wilder, whom they’d sacked after last season despite his success.
Wilder’s first match in charge was another defeat, so his side traveled to Oxford United on Saturday hoping to end the run of six games without a point.
Meanwhile, the home side were coming off a strong performance, having beaten Bristol City 3-1 away from home the previous weekend.
It looked like more of the same for Wilders’ team in the first half. Oxford United controlled 60% possession, taking 10 shots, and forcing good saves from Michael Cooper with their three efforts on target.
Despite Oxford United’s early dominance, Sheffield United made it to the half-time break with the two sides level at 0-0.
The visitors came out stronger in the second half, increasing their possession from 40% to 48%. They limited Oxford’s attacking fluidity by winning the midfield battle, raising their ground duel win percentage from 34% in the first half to 52% in the second.
With just over half an hour to play, Wilder’s team started to find success in their opponents’ half, creating several decent opportunities but not really testing the keeper.
That was until the 65th minute when Irish international winger Chiedozie Ogbene flicked the ball past left-back Jack Currie and beat him to the byline for pace. Ogbene floated a cross into Callum O’Hare, who was unmarked at the penalty spot and took one touch before drilling a shot past the keeper.
Oxford United threw everything at the Sheffield United back line in the final minutes. Gregory Leigh came closest to hitting the post in the 88th minute, but Chris Wilder’s side held on to secure their first points of the season.
“It has been a tough period for everybody,” Wilder said. “I’ve watched from afar and watched from close by, especially over the last couple of weeks. Players want to leave everything out there, which they did, and I thought the second half performance was more like us. More composed, more calm, more belief, and some really good performances out there second half.”
EFL Championship MD7 results
( ) = League position
- (8) West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Leicester City (5)
- (2) Coventry City 3-0 Birmingham City (11)
- (13) Swansea City 1-1 Millwall (10)
- (15) Wrexham 1-1 Derby County (21)
- (12) Ipswich Town 2-1 Portsmouth (17)
- (22) Oxford United 0-1 Sheffield United (24)
- (6) Preston North End 0-0 Bristol City (4)
- (23) Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Queens Park Rangers (9)
- (13) Portsmouth 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday (23)
- (19) Southampton 1-1 Middlesbrough (1)
- (3) Stoke City 1-1 Norwich City (14)
- (16) Watford 2-1 Hull City (18)
