EFL Championship PREVIEW 29 Aug 2026: Lincoln go to Bolton to face the captain they sold, and West Ham are still waiting

Three matches open the card at 12:30 BST. Wolverhampton Wanderers host Stoke City with Cesar Peixoto having set the tone in the build-up — "We must make Molineux our fortress" — and with his side unbeaten in four competitive matches, most recently 3-1 against Preston North End and 2-0 against Sheffield Wednesday in the EFL Cup, though Kieran Trippier and Yerson Mosquera are out for the foreseeable future. Stoke arrive having lost both of their opening league matches. Middlesbrough against West Bromwich Albion is the healthiest team-sheet on the card — Kim Hellberg has only Tommy Conway in the treatment room — and West Brom get Aune Heggebo back from a two-match suspension for what was recorded as successful deception of a match official. Derby County against Swansea City completes the early set: John Eustace is without Matt Clarke and Patrick Agyemang, while Vitor Matos brings an unbeaten Swansea side missing Zeidane Inoussa to a stress fracture, with Melker Widell touch and go.

Bolton Wanderers against Lincoln City at 15:00 has the most personal thread on the card. Ethan Erhahon, Lincoln's record sale, has started both of Bolton's Championship matches this season and now faces the club he left, as have the former captains Liam Bridcutt and Ethan Hamilton before him. Lincoln arrive still looking for their first points at this level and without their own captain: Tendayi Darikwa is out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained against Portsmouth, and Chris Cohen did not soften it — "He's going to be a huge loss; he's still going to be so important to the team" — adding that "we were brilliant as a team last year because of some individual performances in it and Tendayi was a standout as a man and as a captain". They come off a 4-1 EFL Cup win at Blackpool in which seven players made their debuts. Bolton, promoted through the League One play-offs and ten signings heavier, are unbeaten.

Bristol City against Portsmouth is a fixture with a hiring in the background: John Mousinho confirmed that Bristol City showed "some real interest at the start of the summer", which went as far as a conversation with his agent before the club appointed Michael Skubala from Lincoln City instead. Skubala has added Elijah Adebayo as a tenth summer signing and welcomes Cam Pring back to training with Adam Randell available after suspension; Portsmouth may be without Josh Murphy. Elsewhere at 15:00, Cardiff City are down to Perry Ng and Joel Bagan at centre-back with Calum Chambers, Gabriel Osho, Will Fish and Dylan Lawlor all out, and meet a Sheffield United side who have neither scored nor conceded in the Championship this season and have Kalvin Phillips back in contention. Blackburn Rovers host Queens Park Rangers without Sondre Tronstad and Lewis Miller, and Charlton Athletic — who have beaten Derby County and West Ham United already — take on a Preston North End side yet to win, both managers working round long injury lists.

The two hardest weeks on the card belong to clubs used to better. Norwich City host a Burnley side without a win in seventeen competitive matches, a run reaching back to February and extended by a shootout exit to Bradford City; Philippe Clement has Jose Cordoba back from suspension and rested his goalkeeper for a 2-1 EFL Cup win at Cardiff. Watford against West Ham United closes the set, and neither arrives comfortable: Alessio Dionisi's side were beaten 5-1 at home by Peterborough United in midweek with a heavily rotated team, while West Ham are still without a Championship win since relegation, beaten by Charlton last weekend before a 4-1 EFL Cup win over Southampton. Southampton themselves host Millwall having started the season with a four-point deduction over Spygate, with Taylor Harwood-Bellis left out of the last two squads amid interest from West Ham and a rejected bid from Aston Villa, and Millwall arriving on four straight competitive wins.