Only one of today’s four Premier League fixtures is being played on our watch, so it’s an afternoon to train our beady focus upon the Football League. There are 28 3pm BST kick-offs across the three divisions, so there’ll surely be goals and drama, but beyond that we’ll be looking to see what coincidences look ready to become full-blown trends.
There are, for example, nine teams in the Football League who haven’t either scored a goal or won a point (for the record: Barnsley, Nottingham Forest*, Wycombe (who host Swansea at lunchtime), Crewe, Oxford, Bolton, Oldham, Grimsby and Southend); another couple who have scored but still don’t have a point (Derby and Wigan); a few who have points but still haven’t scored (Stoke, Portsmouth and Tranmere); eight with 100% records after two games (Reading, Bristol City, Luton, Ipswich, Lincoln, Hull, Cambridge and Port Vale); and 12 who haven’t conceded (including Portsmouth, the nation’s boredom specialists, who haven’t scored either).
* Forest lost their third game without scoring at Huddersfield last night and also lost without scoring in the EFL Cup, so are way down the road to Trend City already. Interestingly the Championship sides who took the fewest shots in their first two games were Luton (12) and Reading (14, joint with Swansea), who both have 100% records
Let’s start with a big list of today’s 3pm BST fixtures:
Premier League
Crystal Palace v Everton
Championship
Barnsley v Coventry City
Birmingham City v Rotherham United
Cardiff City v Reading
Derby County v Blackburn Rovers
Millwall v Brentford
Preston v Stoke City
QPR v Middlesbrough
League One
Accrington Stanley v Oxford United
Crewe Alexandra v MK Dons
Doncaster Rovers v Bristol Rovers
Fleetwood Town v Wimbledon
Gillingham v Blackpool
Ipswich Town v Rochdale
Northampton v Hull City
Plymouth Argyle v Shrewsbury Town
Portsmouth v Wigan Athletic
Sunderland v Peterborough
Swindon Town v Burton Albion
League Two
Barrow v Colchester
Bolton Wanderers v Newport County
Bradford City v Stevenage
Cambridge United v Tranmere
Mansfield Town v Exeter City
Oldham Athletic v Crawley Town
Port Vale v Harrogate Town
Salford City v Forest Green Rovers
Scunthorpe United v Carlisle United
Southend United v Morecambe
Scottish Premiership
Hamilton Academical v Dundee United
Livingston v St Johnstone
St Mirren v Kilmarnock