Ipswich give away the ball inside their own half.

Stephy Mavididi picks up possession for for Leicester but his shot is deflected wide.

The controversy over Jovon Makama's winning goal for Norwich in which he scored with his hand is going to rumble on well into the night... maybe the season.

Early chance for the in-form hosts on the counter as Morgan Whittaker plays in Tommy Conway who looks a certain scorer.

The Boro man is denied by Amadou Mbengue who races back to make a last-ditch challenge.

Skipper Ricardo Pereira returns to the Leicester side and Hamza Choudhury drops to the bench.

Sindre Walle Egeli is absent through illness for Ipswich while Ivan Azon is among the substitutes.

Jack Clarke starts along with George Hirst who is back from suspension.

Coventry have made three changes today with Milan Van Ewijk, Victor Torp and Ephron Mason-Clark starting in place of the benched Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Luke Woolfenden and Josh Eccles.

Bristol City are without the injured Zak Vyner and George Tanner with Scott Twine among the substitutes.

Skipper Jason Knight returns to the side and there are starts for Neto Borges and Sinclair Armstrong.

Image source, PA

Had a breather?

Right, we're back out in the cold and we have seven more games up and running.

Image source, PA

What a difference a week makes.

Just last Saturday, leaders Coventry seemed to be disappearing away from Middlesbrough and over the Championship horizon with a double-digit lead over their closest challengers.

But since then Boro have halved the gap in the last two matches and now sit a less than daunting five points adrift of the Sky Blues after capitalising on their rivals stumbles with maximum points.

New manager bounce or nay, Boro are seeking a fourth straight win under their Swedish maestro Kim Hellberg and have found their scoring touch too, with eight goals in the past three.

Earlier in the season, a visit from QPR would have seen many punters looking at a home banker, but things have changed of late.

Kieran Morgan’s late, late winner against Birmingham in midweek gave the Hoops their fourth league win in five under Julien Stephan, a run which has taken them within a point and place of the play-off berths.

And if you’re looking for omens, the West Londoners seem to like their trips to the north east.

They’ve come away with maximum points on four of their last six visits so today is not a done deal.

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Birmingham City boss Chris Davies has underlined the need for his side to show a response to two dispiriting results.

Blues welcome out-of-form Charlton today off the back of two disappointing results on the road at Southampton and Queens Park Rangers.

"They're very aggressive and full of energy. Saturday will look a lot like the games we played before which were difficult to control and very physical," Davies told BBC Radio WM.

"We're very confident at home but we're wary of this match because of our recent form [four home wins in a row] and they're on such bad form [five defeats in a row] it can become a sticky game unless you take care it it early on.

"We have to be on the front foot and react to these two disappointing results."

Five straight defeats for the Addicks has left them looking over their shoulder at the drop zone after a fine start on their return to the Championship.

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These two might swap a few war stories and show each other their scars as they resume battle after both experienced chastening seasons in the Premier League.

Leicester's 2-0 victory over Ipswich in the corresponding fixture last year accounted for one of the six wins they managed while for the Suffolk side it was one of a staggering 24 defeats.

The Foxes still appear to be suffering the biggest hangover with last weekend's East Midlands derby win at Derby easing the pressure on boss Marti Cifuentes, albeit they then threw away a 2-0 lead to draw at Bristol City in midweek.

Ipswich's unsteady start has turned into a run of one defeat from 10 games with impressive wins over Coventry and Stoke in the past seven days.

"It's certainly a challenge and turning around momentum in all aspects from the season before is difficult and that's what we're still fighting to do here," Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk.

McKenna says Leicester are "probably not happy with where they are and it's not gone as well as they would've liked."

We may be about to find out how far these two have come from last year's nightmare but it does kind of make you wonder why you would want to go back to the top flight doesn't it?

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If these two sides have anything in common it's inconsistency.

The Dragons and the Hornets have not met since the last millennium - 1998 to be precise - but share an inability to chalk up a run of victories.

Neither side has stitched together back-to-back league wins this season, yet both lurk within striking distance of the play-off spots in a congested mid-table.

Wrexham are closer to the relegation places than the top seven in 15th, but are just six points off the pace despite a run of one win in five.

Defeat at Hull in midweek ended a nine-match unbeaten league run and they will be keen to get back on the horse with a derby against Swansea next up on Friday.

As well as up-and-down form, 12th-place Watford’s other Achilles heel is strikingly obvious.

The long-suffering travelling fans have savoured victory just once in their last 15 away league trips, stretching back to last season.

Three clean sheets in their past 34 matches on the road points to why.

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Two top six sides battling to improve their position ahead of the festive period.

But did you have Millwall and Hull pinned down as being in decent shape come Christmas?

Today's meeting between the two sides at The Den could see mixed fortunes in front of goal.

Hull have scored an impressive 15 goals in nine games on their travels in the Championship this season however Millwall haven't been able to score in five of their past six league games against today's opponents.

The Lions are fourth as things stand and four points off second-placed Middlesbrough while Hull are seventh after Stoke replaced them in the play-off positions following their win at lunchtime.

Can either side bring some respective health to their situations today?

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Two teams in need of a win at the wrong end of the Championship table.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho says he won't make wholesale changes to his side despite them being adrift in the bottom three.

"The gut reaction after losing any game is we have to change something, we've got to come up with another solution," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"The answer to that is if we'd not conceded that goal [at Swansea] and come away with a 0-0 draw away from home we go into the changing room and say that's a solid platform to build off.

"So we probably don't change too much but look at some of the aspects of the game we need to be better at."

They take on Blackburn today who have welcomed back Todd Cantwell from a two-month injury absence earlier this month and he made a scoring impact against Oxford on Tuesday.

"We've found the way and the shape for this team, and we have the position for Toddy as well, which is really good," Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"He was on an unbelievable level before his injury. Now he's back we still need to manage him. Every time it's a closed discussion with him - how he feels and how long he thinks he can play."

Anything else to say about Coventry?

Well Frank Lampard did win the manager of the month award for the second successive time this week and Ellis Simms was named player of the month for November as well.

They are still five points clear at the top of the table, albeit that is half what it was a fortnight ago.

"I'm pleased to win it twice but I'm not concerned, I'm more concerned about performance and winning games," said Lampard.

"This game means you can't win every game. I said that when we were 10 points clear and I reiterate it now, there's a long way to go."

Bristol City ride into view with four wins on the road already - that is as many as they managed in the entirety of last season when they reached the play-offs.

Those away wins though have come at each of the bottom three and Sheffield United on the opening day - they are yet to catch a really big fish so could today be the one?

So, a trio of 2-1 victories in the Championship this lunchtime, all with big significance at the top and bottom of the table.

That was just the starter. There are seven more matches coming up at 15:00 GMT, let's take a closer look at what's in store...

Jo Tessem
Ex-Southampton midfielder on BBC Radio Solent

This is the Championship, when teams get it right against us they are solid.

The game turned in Norwich's favour today. I don't think this was a bad way of losing, I think it would have made a massive difference if Adam Armstrong scored the penalty.

They deserved to win in the end, they put up a really good performance. When you win the way they did, I don't have a problem with it.

Rob Newman
Former Norwich defender on BBC Radio Norfolk

They deserved it today.

You just look at the euphoria from the players, they know how important this win is. They stuck to their guns and created chances, the two centre-halves were brilliant today too.

Throughly deserved win and I'm really pleased for them.

Jack Bridge
BBC Radio Lancashire

It's the perfect away performance.

We didn't have much of the ball, we had to weather the storm. It was a superb performance, they can wear the North End shirt with pride this afternoon. It's been a fantastic afternoon of football.

The Kassam Stadium is a difficult place to come and North End have picked up all three points.

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We're over the seven minutes of stoppage-time and Swansea are throwing everything at the Stoke massed defence.

And that's it!

Ben Pearson’s stunner and Sorba Thomas’ eighth of the season help clinical Stoke end a run of three straight defeats.

For now at least, the Potters move back into the top six where they have been for most of the season.

Mark Robins’ side were made to work hard for it by the visitors who will feel they did enough to collect a point this afternoon.

But the Swans were unable to find an equaliser after Zan Vipotnik’s late goal halved the deficit and drop to 19th, six points above the bottom three.

Image source, Getty Images

Norwich record back-to-back home wins for the first time since January but the winning goal is a controversial one.

Southampton should have been ahead at the break with Leo Scienza hitting the crossbar with an early free kick before Adam Armstrong saw his penalty saved by Vladan Kovacevic.

Jovon Makama touched home Jacob Wright's cross just after the break as Norwich started strongly in the second 45 only for Ryan Manning to lash home an equaliser.

Makama's second will be argued about long into the night by Saints as the ball went in off the forward's hand but referee James Bell failed to spot it along with his assistant.

Southampton's progress is halted and have Norwich turned a corner?

They move above Portsmouth in the relegation zone and within two points of fourth-from-bottom Oxford ahead of the later games.