Championship round-up: Table starts to take shape as teams hit form
Sunderland and Sheffield United make up the top two while they are closely followed by Burnley, West Brom, Leeds and Watford - with just three points separating first and sixth.
At the opposite end of the table, the bottom three consists of QPR, Portsmouth and Cardiff with surprise strugglers Luton and Coventry just outside the relegation zone.
A good point to judge a team is after 10 games, and that milestone is fast approaching. After another weekend of action it's time again for Flashscore's Championship round-up.
Meslier's moment to forget
Leeds travelled to Sunderland on Friday evening as the two clubs faced off in what will likely be looked back on as one of the season's best games.
Both Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev were ruled out through injury for the visitors, meaning they were without their two main defensive midfielders against one of the best counter-attacking sides in the division - and it quickly showed in what was an end-to-end first half with both sides carving each other open on several occasions.
Sunderland opened the scoring early on as 17-year-old Chris Rigg pounced on a loose ball to fire home but they were quickly pegged back after Joel Piroe's header.
Leeds then went ahead in the second half through a well-worked move finished off by Junior Firpo before setting out to sensibly manage the rest of the match and come away with three points.
They did just that with clever time-wasting and by winning smart fouls across the pitch to take any momentum out of the affair - as goalkeeper Illan Meslier did his best to run down the clock and help Leeds to a huge win.
Unfortunately, that proved to be their undoing as Meslier produced one of the worst errors you are likely to see in the dying moments of added time, completely missing a harmless loose ball and letting it bounce into his own net.
Pretty much everyone thought the game was done and that Leeds had ground out a respectable win against tricky opponents, even several thousand home supporters had left the game early.
But Meslier's blunder sparked wild celebrations from those still at the Stadium of Light and ensured Sunderland would remain top of the league, undoing the exceptional work his teammates had put in for most of the encounter.
Late drama for Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday
Both Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday picked up dramatic late wins on Saturday, with the Owls netting a 93rd-minute winner away at Coventry while Argyle sealed all three points with a 97th-minute goal against Blackburn.
We'll start with Wednesday, who went 1-0 down midway through the first half against Coventry before equalising right before half-time.
It looked like the match would end in a draw as neither side managed to find the breakthrough in normal time until Southampton loanee Shea Charles broke through in the 93rd minute to seal a valuable victory for Danny Rohl's side.
Coventry's defenders were adamant that the midfielder was offside but no flag came from the linesman as the Owls picked up a huge three points, while the hosts were left just a point above the relegation zone.
Down in Plymouth, manager Wayne Rooney has quietly been building a bit of momentum and proving plenty of doubters wrong by picking up some important wins, which continued with a dramatic late victory against Blackburn.
Despite taking an early lead it looked like Argyle had thrown away three points after conceding in the 86th minute - with Rooney being sent off shortly afterwards.
The manager's dismissal clearly didn't damage his side too much as star player Morgan Whittaker popped up in the dying moments of the match to head in from close range and snatch a mammoth three points for his side.
Home Park erupted with the late winner and sang Rooney's name as the Manchester United legend continues to establish himself in the Championship after lots of - perhaps unwarranted - criticism.
Watford stage late comeback
It would be unfair to look at late comebacks from the weekend without mentioning Watford's 2-1 win against Middlesbrough, with the Hornets netting twice in the final 15 minutes to seal a vital win.
The visitors took a second-half lead through George Edmundson but were eventually undone first by Edo Kayembe's strike from the edge of the area and then a brilliant volley from youngster Kwadwo Baah.
Watford had been on a run of just one win in five games before the clash but earned a much-needed comeback win ahead of another international break - allowing them to sneak into the final play-off spot.
The Hornets have perhaps gone under the radar for some people but were actually tipped for relegation before the season began, with manager Tom Cleverley instead guiding a promising squad into the top six.
You'll likely remember Giorgi Chakvetadze who played a starring role for Georgia at Euro 2024 while there are other recognisable names in the squad such as former West Ham defender Angelo Ogbonna and World Cup winner Moussa Sissoko.
Perhaps the most impressive member of the squad, though, was Saturday's hero Baah who is quickly establishing himself as one of the top young attackers in the league.
His late goal against Middlesbrough was very well-taken and could prove to be the sort of thing that provides real momentum for Watford going forward - although the international break falls at a pretty inconvenient time for Cleverley's side.
Tanner strikes for Cardiff
Cardiff drew 1-1 against Bristol City on Sunday to secure only their fifth point of the season, with Ollie Tanner netting a spectacular solo effort.
The 22-year-old received the ball on the corner of the area and instantly nutmegged an opposition defender before selling two players with a lovely cut onto his right foot and finishing with an effort rifled right into the top corner.
A special mention for both Marcelino Nunez and Borja Sainz of Norwich who also netted excellent goals, but Tanner takes our Goal of the Week this time.
Rak-Sakyi has perfect birthday
Sheffield United winger Jesuran Rak-Sakyi turned 22 on Saturday and celebrated his birthday in style by grabbing both goals in the Blades' 2-0 win over Luton.
The youngster first broke through the Hatters' defence to open the scoring with a good finish after just 12 minutes before showing exceptional skill to get away from his man and fire through the goalkeeper's legs for his second.
His performance earned him a perfect 10 Flashscore player rating, making Rak-Sakyi our Championship Player of the Week - as always, we've compiled 11 of the best performers across the weekend in our regular Top XI feature (based solely on Flashscore ratings):
Full results:
Coventry 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday
