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Championship roundup: Ipswich suffer shock defeat while Coventry hit seven

Championship round-up: Ipswich remain winless while Coventry hit seven
Championship round-up: Ipswich remain winless while Coventry hit sevenČTK / imago sportfotodienst / Paul OBrien/PPAUK
The Championship season continued this weekend with a host of surprise results, including a 7-1 win for Coventry over QPR and a shock 1-0 loss for Ipswich away at Preston.

Sheffield United's plight also continued with a 1-0 defeat against Millwall while Middlesbrough and Stoke maintained their 100 per cent record at the top of the table.

Here, Flashscore take a look at all the major talking points from the latest Championship action.

Championship table
Championship tableFlashscore

Coventry hit seven past QPR

Coventry have started the season strongly with two wins and a draw, bagging a staggering 12 goals in the process.

The Sky Blues drew their opening fixture 0-0 with Hull, but swiftly put worries of a lack of attacking threat to bed with a 5-3 win over Derby last weekend and a mammoth 7-1 thrashing of QPR on Saturday.

Frank Lampard's side netted five first-half goals against the Londoners before adding two more after the break - laying down a marker for the campaign ahead.

Jack Rudoni, Haji Wright and Victor Torp all bagged a brace each, with Brandon Thomas-Asante also finding the net at the CBS Arena in a mammoth victory for the Sky Blues.

Match stats
Match statsFlashscore

Coventry missed out on promotion via the play-offs last season but have held on to their star players thus far - namely Rudoni and Wright - and look to be strong bets to challenge the automatic promotion spots this time around.

While transfer activity regarding incomings has been quiet at best, Lampard's side isn't far away from being one of the best sides in the entire division and showed just how devastating they can be against QPR.

That kind of attacking threat from multiple positions is vital in the Championship and - providing they stay at the club - expect both Rudoni and Wright to be around the top of the goal contribution charts come the end of the campaign.

Ipswich remain winless

Ipswich were one of the favourites to win the league before the start of the season given that they have, on paper, elite Championship players throughout the squad.

The likes of Jack Clarke, Jadon Philogene, Sammie Szmodics, Leif Davis, Chuba Akpom and Jacob Greaves have all been amongst the best players in the division during past stints in the second tier.

Couple that with exceptional head coach Kieran McKenna and it's easy to see why so many tipped the Tractor Boys for promotion.

Things haven't gone to plan so far, though, with Ipswich drawing their first two fixtures 1-1 and now losing 1-0 against Preston - a side expected to struggle near the bottom of the table.

Ipswich's recent results
Ipswich's recent resultsFlashscore

North End striker Milutin Osmajic scored the only goal of the game at Deepdale, converting from the penalty spot after just 11 minutes.

Preston went on to withstand a flurry of attacks from the visitors and stood firm for a valuable three points.

Ipswich are perhaps facing the issue of trying to fit too many top players into one side - for example, shifting natural left winger Clarke out onto the right.

McKenna also needs to find a way to get his attacking unit to click quickly with the Tractor Boys netting just two league goals so far and only managing six shots on target in their opening three matches.

Time is certainly on Ipswich's side, given that several promotion contenders have also made slow starts - but things need to pick up going forward if they are to contend for a top two spot.

Surprise clubs pushing to Championship summit

As touched on last week, some surprise contenders are emerging to challenge at the top of the division in both Stoke and Middlesbrough, and the pair continued their strong starts with solid away victories.

The Potters defeated Southampton 2-1 despite being reduced to 10 men following Divin Mubama's two yellow cards, while Boro won by the same scoreline against the 10 men of Norwich.

Both clubs were predicted to be around the mid-table mark before the season began but strong starts have seen expectations start to shift.

Stoke are guided by the vastly underrated Mark Robins and former Luton manager Rob Edwards leads Middlesbrough.

The two managers have strong records competing at the top end of the Championship and seem to be set on doing the same this time around.

Another side that have started the season well is Millwall, who defeated Sheffield United 1-0 on Saturday.

The Lions recorded a 1-0 win at Bramall Lane after Luke Cundle's strike to seal their second win of the campaign and look to be another dark horse to finish in the top six.

For Sheffield United, it was yet another loss to see them remain rooted to the bottom of the table and just one of two clubs yet to register a single point so far (alongside Oxford).

The Blades are in danger of hitting free-fall if things don't improve quickly and manager Ruben Selles needs to turn things around as soon as possible.

Championship bottom four
Championship bottom fourFlashscore

Irankuda makes his mark with Watford

Eyebrows were raised when highly-rated winger Nestory Irankuda joined Watford permanently from Bayern Munich over the summer.

The Australian has already started to prove his worth in England with an assist last week and added a delightful free-kick in the Hornets' 1-1 draw to Swansea on Saturday.

Irankuda curled a superb effort into the top corner to open the scoring and looks like a very smart signing by the Watford hierarchy.

Rudoni excels for Coventry

Rudoni was just one of several standout performers in Coventry's 7-1 win over QPR and registered two goals and an assist in the victory.

The midfielder is a crucial source of goals for the Sky Blues and mirrors plenty of similarities with manager Frank Lampard.

His performance earned a 9.4 Flashscore rating - the highest of anyone in the Championship's latest fixtures.

Championship Team of the Week
Championship Team of the WeekFlashscore

Full results:

Derby 1-1 Bristol City

Swansea 1-1 Watford

Hull 0-3 Blackburn

Charlton 0-1 Leicester

Wrexham 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday

West Brom 1-1 Portsmouth

Southampton 1-2 Stoke

Sheffield United 0-1 Millwall

Preston 1-0 Ipswich

Norwich 1-2 Middlesbrough

Coventry 7-1 QPR

Birmingham 1-0 Oxford

Ali Pollock
Ali PollockFlashscore

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