Championship Preview: Burnley, QPR chase new leaders Leicester

Leicester City will look to cement their status as Championship leaders when they travel to managerless Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday.

Jamie Vardy bagged a brace in Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Millwall and Nigel Pearson’s side went top with a three-point lead by virtue of defeats for Burnley and QPR at the weekend.

A trying night could be in prospect for second-bottom Wednesday, who have slumped to three consecutive defeats after their long overdue first win over the season over Reading last month and parted company with manager Dave Jones on Sunday.

Burnley are favourites to get back on track following a 2-1 loss at Huddersfield Town when they welcome boss Sean Dyche’s former employers Watford to Turf Moor, with last seasons beaten play-off finalists having lost four of an on-going six-match winless run.

QPR remain behind Burnley on goal difference in third after falling to a surprise 2-1 reverse at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

Rangers striker Charlie Austin notched a ninth goal of the season and third in three matches at the Keepmoat Stadium and will look to continue the run of form against Bournemouth.

Fourth-placed Blackpool travel to Yeovil Town on the back of recording their first win in three attempts at home to Sheffield Wednesday – a result that helped to lift Gary Johnson’s team off the foot of the table and up to 22nd on the back of their own 3-0 triumph at Watford.

Blackpool’s fellow play-off hopefuls Reading and Nottingham Forest will be keen not to lose ground on the leaders after shared a five-goal thriller last Friday.

Jordan Obita fired a 74th-minute winner for sixth-placed Reading after Forest forwards Simon Cox and Darius Henderson cancelled out early goals from Pavel Pogrebnyak and Kaspars Gorkss.

Forest must dust themselves down for a trip to Millwall and Reading welcome Charlton to Berkshire.

Doncaster will try to put further distance between themselves and the relegation zone when they search for a third win in four outings at Birmingham City, who are a point and a place below Paul Dickov’s men after the 3-0 weekend win that accounted for Barnsley manager David Flitcroft.

Former Fleetwood Town manager Micky Mellon has been placed in temporary of Barnsley charge following Flitcroft’s sacking and begins his tenure begins with a long trip to Brighton and Hove Albion, who are unbeaten in six as they prepare to welcome the division’s bottom club.

Ipswich Town and Blackburn Rovers are locked together on 23 points ahead of their meeting at the Portman Road, a total that Huddersfield also reached courtesy of their impressive weekend outing and they face another trans-Pennine clash against Bolton Wanderers.

Wigan Athletic and Derby County’s encounter on Sunday means they wait until Wednesday to take on Leeds United and Middlesbrough respectively.