Middlesbrough have started this one the better of the two sides.

First, good wing play from Jeremy Sarmiento sees him go down the line and pull the ball back to Alan Browne whose shot is well parried away by Pompey keeper Nicolas Schmid.

Moments later, Adilson Malanda's strike gets a wicked deflection and lands on the top of the Pompey net.

Jannik Vestergaard is making his first Foxes start since January today with no Caleb Okoli but he's picked up a booking after just 10 minutes after wiping out Ji-sung Eom.

Now this is not what Derby need at all.

Having just lost Patrick Agyemang to a long-term injury, Bobby Clark has been withdrawn inside the first 10 minutes of this match.

He went down holding his hamstring and he will play no further part, with Oscar Fraulo coming on in his place.

It's the visitors, in their blue change strip, who have begun the brighter at the Kassam but Nestory Irankunda has been denied by a vital challenge from Yunus Konak as he threatened to break away.

Cameron Brannagan has also slid behind a Irankunda cross at the expense of a Hornets corner.

Early chance for the hosts at The Valley as the recalled Joe Rankin-Costello heads Tyreece Campbell's cross against the post.

One more win would take the Addicks past the fabled 50-point mark and they came very close to it in just the fourth minute.

Bright start from the Foxes, winning a couple of corners which Divine Mukasa swings in.

The first is punched away by Lawrence Vigouroux but the second sails out of play on the strong wind across the Midlands this afternoon.

Hayden Hackney again misses out for Boro with Kim Hellberg fielding what looks like a 4-4-2.

Jeremy Sarmiento and Riley McGree start on the wings while Tommy Conway and David Strelec start up top.

For Pompey, Madiodio Dia partners Regan Poole in defence, while Conor Chaplin starts just behind Colby Bishop in attack.

A big game in the race for the play-offs at St Mary's.

Saints have made four changes from their team that dismantled Wrexham on Tuesday.

Shea Charles, Kuryu Matsuki, Samuel Edozie and Cyle Larin all come out of the team and Caspar Jandar, Tom Fellows, Leo Scienza and Ross Stewart are in.

Three changes for the Rams - Max Johnston, Sam Szmodics and Jaydon Banel come in for Derry Murkin, Ben Brereton Diaz and Patrick Agyemang, who has been ruled out injured for the rest of the season.

Mark Drury
BBC Radio Tees commentator

There's a good following from Pompey, this is likely their longest journey of the season and they've travelled well, probably a good 1200 of them down there this afternoon.

Incredibly windy at the bet365 Stadium and both teams struggling to adapt to it.

Adam Forshaw wins Rovers a free-kick 30-yards out but Todd Cantwell can only fire it a similar distance off target.

Not sure he can blame the elements for that, though.

Adam Cottier
BBC Final Score at the King Power Stadium

With a trip to Portsmouth to come next Saturday, Leicester swiftly need to find a ruthlessness and show they are worthy of staying in this division.

Attempts under Gary Rowett have been frequent, but goals hard to come by.

They were gifted both in their last home game, but there’s still every chance the Foxes can get out of this. The next two games, alone, are so so critical.

We go again... we might not see a promotion today, but the promotion and relegation fights are looking hotter than ever.

Let's watch it all unfold...

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If Southampton are going to consolidate on Tuesday's statement 5-1 win over fellow play-off hopefuls Wrexham, they're going to need to hold off the challenge of another side hoping to gatecrash the play-offs.

Derby sit three points below Saints in eighth place and have been slowly but surely climbing the table themselves.

John Eustace's side really have been all or nothing in 2026.

Since the turn of the year, the Rams have only drawn one of 17 matches in the league ([at home to West Bromwich Albion].

And in the other 16 games, they've been more all than nothing as they've picked up 10 wins and six defeats.

With four points separating them and fifth-placed Hull, Saints having a game in hand and Wrexham also leading them by a point, Derby are the outsiders for a top six spot at the moment.

But a win at St Mary's today could change that.

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It's hard to believe that a little more than five months ago, Southampton were searching for a new head coach and hovering just above the Championship relegation zone.

The south coast club had just sacked Will Still after two wins from 13 league games and were seemingly in crisis.

Their under-21 head coach was placed in temporary charge, a man by the name of Tonda Eckert.

What has followed, even the most optimistic Southampton fan surely could not have predicted.

From the German's 27 league games at the helm, his side have picked up 16 wins and 44 points to send them up to sixth in the table on a total of 66 points.

With no defeats in almost three months, they are the Championship's form team and are well on course to finish in the play-off spots.

Throw in the fact they have also beaten the Premier League leaders Arsenal to set up a Wembley semi-final against Manchester City in the FA Cup, if they continue in this form they could have more than one big day out at the national stadium on the horizon.

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Charlton need one more point to take them to the magic number 50.

But to do that they're going to halt a six-match losing streak in all competitions against the Lilywhites that dates 14 years back to 2012.

Since then, the Addicks have tasted defeat in all five meetings in the Championship and Preston also came out on top in the FA Cup third round meeting last season, while Charlton were in League One.

Following a miserable run of one win in 12 league games, Paul Heckingbottom's side have had a slight upturn in form as they've gone unbeaten in their past three.

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At the start of the season, if you were to predict which one of these Yorkshire outfits would be in a play-off place by April, you probably would have chosen Sheffield United.

But while the Blades have stuttered, the Tigers have roared, and Sergej Jakirovic's travel to the Steel City currently fifth in the Championship and hoping to consolidate their play-off spot with the teams below them ready to pounce.

Hull striker Oli McBurnie returns to Bramall Lane for the first time since leaving the club for Las Palmas during the summer of 2024 and is due to receive a good reception after five years in the red and white in which he played a key role in two promotions for Chris Wilder's men.

The Tigers are looking to complete their first league double over Sheffield United since 1952-53 while the Blades will hope to keep just their third clean sheet since Boxing Day - with only city rivals Sheffield Wednesday managing less shutouts in that time.

Oxford United will seek an exit from the bottom three as they welcome Watford to the Kassam this afternoon.

The U's are on a four-match winless streak but are only one point below 21st-placed Portsmouth and could leapfrog both Leicester and Pompey to climb out the drop zone should they pick up a better result.

They face a Hornets side on a three-match winless run of their own, with a nine point-gap to the play-offs.

However, U's boss Matt Bloomfield was quick to dispel any thoughts that their visitors won't be motivated to perform to their best.

"Everything is analysed, every player is analysed, every club, every game, every manager - everything is recorded," Bloomfield told BBC Radio Oxford.

"Everyone has something to play for and we are expecting some really tough opposition."

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Blackburn Rovers will look to pull further clear of the Championship relegation places when they visit Stoke.

Michael O'Neill's side were just one point above the drop zone after a 1-0 defeat to relegation rivals Oxford on 11 March but are unbeaten in the four games since (W2 D2) and are now six points ahead of Leicester in 22nd.

The Potters - who are 12 points behind the play-off spots and 13 clear of the drop - are on course for a mid-table finish.

O'Neill helped the Potters avoid relegation after taking over the club in November 2019, overseeing 143 games before his dismissal in August 2022.

"The club [Stoke] was not in a good moment because we had a lot of issues with financial fair play and how we would build the squad, which was challenging, but I think we left the club in a better place than we found it," O'Neill told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"It was a great experience for me. It's a really good club, a lot of similarities between the clubs, a lot of good people at Stoke as there is here at Blackburn.

"It'll be nice to see some people again, but my only focus is try to get out of there with three points."

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Big day at the King Power as Leicester will hope to break out of the bottom three as they host Swansea.

The Foxes escaped a loss at Hillsborough on Monday with an 84th-minute equaliser from Jordan Ayew but their point still leaves them one behind 21st-placed Portsmouth.

Leicester this week failed with their appeal against a deduction of six points for financial irregularities and head coach Gary Rowett was pleased to have ended the uncertainty

"The fact that nothing has changed gives great clarity to the group for the last five games, so I'm pleased it's done now rather than two or three games down the line where it might have a material impact on what happens," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

The 15th-placed Swans are precisely half as good on the road as they are at home, picking up just 18 points from 20 away games and losing a dozen of them, while they are winless in their past four and safely in mid-table.

Leicester's home form was the least of their worries with 22 points from their opening 13 at the King Power but four points from their past seven games has made this a very big fixture indeed for Rowett's under-fire squad.