EFL Championship REVIEW 19 Sep 2026: Ten-man Queens Park Rangers claw back Johnny Kenny’s double as the draws punish our model

We named a winner in every fixture on this Championship card, and the division spent the afternoon handing draws back. Cardiff City at home, Stoke City at home and Swansea City on the road at Lincoln City were the calls that landed. Everywhere else the model was beaten, and the fixture we rated as the clearest home call of the lot, Queens Park Rangers against Preston North End, produced the strangest afternoon of the day.

Johnny Kenny scored inside the opening minute at Loftus Road, robbing the ball near halfway after a lofted clearance from Stan Mills and running clear, and he added a second on twenty-six when Mills drove into the box and the loose ball broke for him. In between, Dennis Cirkin was sent off on fifteen minutes for a high challenge on Leo Leroy. Two up against ten men, Preston North End still left with a point rather than three: Kwame Poku drilled in from outside the area on sixty-six for his first goal for the club, and Paul Smyth, on as a substitute, levelled on ninety from twenty yards. Queens Park Rangers 2-2 Preston North End, and QPR had played most of it a man short. They were Kenny’s first goals since joining Preston, and it was Jason Euell’s first match in interim charge.

Stoke City 2-1 Sheffield United turned on shots from distance. Kalvin Phillips, with his first goal for Sheffield United, drove a low free-kick inside Viktor Johansson’s near post on fifty-one. Jack McGlynn answered on seventy-eight, striking into the top corner on his first start at the bet365 Stadium, and on eighty-six Sam Gallagher, on from the bench, controlled Ethan Galbraith’s driven pass, turned and finished in one motion. At The Den, Millwall 2-2 West Ham United was two matches stitched together. Caleb Taylor forced in from close range on sixteen and Camiel Neghli scored from six yards on forty-five, both after Lyndon Dykes long throws West Ham United could not deal with. Nuno Espirito Santo sent on Pablo Felipe and Mohamadou Kante at half-time; Kante scored from twenty-five yards on seventy-four, Konstantinos Mavropanos headed in Manor Solomon’s cross on eighty, and Kante was then sent off on eighty-nine for hauling back Kyrell Lisbie.

Cardiff City 3-1 Charlton Athletic was the most controlled performance of the day. Jack Moylan dummied Alex Robertson’s low cross, took the return pass from Yousef Salech and finished on eight; Salech turned under pressure and struck the second on twenty-four; Tyreece Campbell beat the offside trap to pull one back on twenty-nine; and Moylan settled it on sixty-one with a one-two off Ollie Tanner and a finish into the top corner. Nathan Jones offered his players no cover afterwards. “I’m a bit shocked and I’m very embarrassed. I’ll take full responsibility because I’m the manager,” he said.

Wrexham 2-1 Southampton was settled by a ball the home side barely had to touch. Kieffer Moore headed Wrexham in front on thirty-six and James Ward-Prowse levelled on fifty with his first goal since returning to Southampton, before a low cross from Jacques Ekomie on eighty-nine was turned in off Keven Schlotterbeck, an own goal our records credit to Wrexham. It ended a Southampton run that had stretched back six league games. Birmingham City 2-2 Middlesbrough had one of those as well. Maximilian Arfsten put Middlesbrough ahead on forty-five, Liam Millar levelled on fifty-five, and on fifty-nine a corner came back off Riley McGree and in, credited to Birmingham City, before Adilson Malanda punished a spilled free-kick on eighty-eight. Portsmouth 2-2 Blackburn Rovers opened at a sprint, Zak Swanson scoring on four and Oladapo Afolayan on eleven, before Ryoya Morishita put Blackburn Rovers ahead on fifty-six and Colby Bishop, from the bench, levelled on seventy-four.

Burnley 1-1 Derby County took longest to give way. Zeki Amdouni scored from a corner on thirty-four and Burnley held it until the ninetieth, when substitute Mohammed Fuseini finished low to take the point. Lincoln City 1-2 Swansea City was the away call that came good, though it did not look like it at the interval: Reeco Hackett-Fairchild converted a penalty on thirty-nine after Josh Tymon bundled into Freddie Draper, and Lincoln City had been the better side. Swansea City scored twice early in the second half, Moussa Kounfolo Yeo turning in a Melker Widell pull-back on forty-seven and Stephen Eustaquio bending a deflected shot beyond the goalkeeper on fifty-one for his first goal for the club. Marking our own homework: we read this as a card for home winners and got a card of draws, and only at Cardiff, Stoke and Sincil Bank did the football do what we said it would.