EFL Championship REVIEW 5 Sep 2026: four from eleven — a bruising Saturday for the model

A bruising Saturday for the model: four right from eleven. The one it will rue least came at QPR, backed at home and beaten 1-0 by Middlesbrough — Will Lankshear, unwell overnight, converting at the far post from Callum Brittain's low cross for his seventh goal in seven to end QPR's unbeaten start.

Its home calls that landed were emphatic. Millwall beat Bolton 4-0 despite a long injury list — Caleb Taylor opening and Lyndon Dykes striking twice, either side of a flashpoint that saw Metcalfe and Sheehan both sent off, before Camiel Neghli added a fourth. West Ham beat Derby 3-0, Joël Piroe striking inside six minutes before Edvin Austbø and Mohamadou Kanté finished late. And West Brom edged Watford 1-0 through Jimmy-Jay Morgan's tap-in.

The model's one correct away call was Bristol City, 2-1 winners at Burnley: Aaron Ramsey drove Burnley ahead in the 56th, but Rob Dickie headed in from a corner in the 82nd and Yu Hirakawa finished in stoppage time to leave Burnley still waiting for a first win.

Then the misses. Stoke beat Charlton 4-0 — Justin Devenny with two, Ethan Galbraith and George Hirst the others — Charlton down to ten when Dan McNamara was sent off. Norwich won 3-1 at Sheffield United, Anthony Musaba, Mohamed Touré and substitute Mathias Kvistgaarden overturning Patrick Bamford's equaliser for a first away win of the season. Preston beat Blackburn 2-1, Callum Lang scoring both before a Stanley Mills own goal. And Portsmouth beat Cardiff 2-0 through Conor Shaughnessy and Marko Milovanović, on an afternoon marred by a supporter striking Portsmouth's Krystian Bielik.

The two draws completed a chastening card. Lincoln City drew 1-1 with Southampton, Welington's 25-yarder cancelled by Mikkel Ladefoged's late header, on the day James Ward-Prowse made his first start back at Southampton; and Swansea and Wrexham finished goalless.