It was a fairly quiet weekend of action as the Sky Bet Championship came to a close before the international break, with plenty of low-scoring games up and down the country. Seven of the nine matches played had just two goals or less, but there were some vital results that had huge ramifications at both ends of the league standings.
Birmingham City made a huge step towards safety with a 1-0 win away at fellow relegation battlers Queens Park Rangers, while 22nd-placed Huddersfield Town earned a first victory in six games to put pressure on Cardiff City, who are now just three places above the drop.
Elsewhere, there were 1-1 draws across the board for Reading, Hull City, Watford, Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Luton Town, whereas Swansea City got one over their rivals Bristol City with a dominant 2-0 win on Sunday.
The two most comfortable victories of the weekend, though, were for two sides chasing promotion. Middlesbrough thrashed Preston North End by four goals to nil at the Riverside Stadium and Coventry City swept aside Blackpool with ease, beating them 4-1.
So many players impressed this weekend just gone that it would be difficult to select just 11 to form a team of the week but, rather thankfully, WhoScored’s rating system makes things a lot easier. With that in mind, here are the best-performing stars based on WhoScored ratings. See below.

9. Ben Sheaf (Coventry City) - 8.52
Opened the scoring for The Sky Blues in the 4-1 win away at Blackpool and then commanded in midfield for the rest of the game. | Getty Images

10. Oliver Ntcham (Swansea City) - 9.11
Assisted the first goal and scored the second as Swansea swept aside rivals Bristol City by two goals to nil. | Getty Images

11. Chuba Akpom (Middlesbrough) - 8.42
Was key to Middlesbrough beating Preston 4-0 as he registered a goal and an assist. Also created two chances to show off his creative ability. | Getty Images

12. Cameron Archer (Middlesbrough) - 9.56*
Undoubtedly the player of the week as the Aston Villa loanee scored two fine goals and assisted another in Boro’s win. | Getty Images


