3️⃣ huge weekend games could set the tone for the Championship season | OneFootball

With five matchdays gone and the transfer window now firmly shut, we’re starting to get some idea of who the runners and riders might be in the Championship.

This weekend sees three huge games that could well prove pivotal to the shape of the campaign to come.

Friday night sees arguably the biggest game of the season so far.

Two of last season’s relegated Premier League sides meet under the lights at St Mary’s with Leicester currently riding a wave of optimism not seen at the club since the 2021 FA Cup final.

The Foxes’ sharp decline has been well-documented but over the summer the club made, for the first time in a while, a sensible recruiting decision.

The appointment of Enzo Maresca was seen as a gamble by many, with the Manchester City assistant having only 14 games as a number one in his career.

But his arrival at the King Power Stadium has turned Leicester from top-flight no-hopers to one of the best footballing sides in the country.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has gone to another level, Kasey McAteer is one of the most exciting wingers in the Championship and the defence has tightened up no end.

It hasn’t been completely plain-sailing though, with Hull going to the east Midlands before the international break and coming away with a 1-0 win.

Their stingy defence (Hull allowed Leicester just one shot on target in 90 minutes) will be a blueprint to follow for Southampton this weekend.

The Saints, meanwhile, have their own fresh face in the dugout with Russell Martin having joined over the summer after an impressive couple of seasons with Swansea.

His side have had an enviable ability of score late goals so far this term, with last minute winners coming against Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday.

Just before the break, however, Southampton were hammered 5-0 by a youthful Sunderland side which almost negated all the good work that had been done up to that point.

This one is going to be absolutely fascinating.

One of British football’s most fervent rivalries takes pride of place on Saturday evening with kick-off between Cardiff and Swansea.

South Wales police have okayed the later time slot, but this match is still one of the few ‘bubble’ games left in the Football League.

Such is the animosity between these two sets of fans, that police will only allow away supporters to travel to their respective hosts on designated buses with a police escort.

There really is no love lost when the two teams meet and that spills out onto the pitch as well.

Such has been the nip and tuck nature of this fixture that before 2021, it had been the case that neither side had done the league double over the other in the 110-year history of this game.

But Cardiff’s dip in form of late has seen Swansea win home and away against the Bluebirds for two consecutive seasons.

How they would love to get the ball rolling on a three-peat.

That could be easier said than done though, with neither side really impressing so far this season. In the 10 games between them, they’ve mustered just six points with Cardiff claiming the solitary win.

Geographical distance and local pride may cause the animosity between Cardiff and Swansea. But it’s a slightly different set of reasons as to why, when Leeds play Millwall, there’s usually something in the air.

Despite only playing each other 40 times in league football, the rivalry between these two runs deep.

Formed mainly in the 1970s and 80s, with hooliganism at its height, there was a time when these clubs’ fanbases were described as “the scourge of football” by Sir John Goldring back in the bad old days of English football.

An off-field rivalry developed that eventually became an on-field one once Leeds had fallen to the depths of League One in the late 2000s.

After the Yorkshire side’s relegation from the Premier League last time out, both teams are now back in the same division and ready to resume their rivalry.

Leeds travel to south London this weekend for an early Sunday kick-off, with neither club really having impressed so far this term.

Daniel Farke’s men have claimed just one win from their first five games whilst Millwall are two from five.

Goals, much likes victories, have been at a relative premium for both sides and that will need to change sharpish if they’re to maintain their promotion hopes.