The 12 Teams of EFL Christmas
Under The Spotlight: Matt Watts shines a light on the EFL teams (apart from your own) who you should be keeping a close eye on over the festive period
Welcome to Under The Spotlight, a written spin-off of our Under The Lights podcast, helmed by Matt Watts. This column is for shining a big EFL floodlight on the stories that deserve more than just a 30-second clip on Twitter.
“If you look for it, I think you’ll find that EFL football actually is all around.”
Or something to that effect.
First, the big day itself. Then, EFL lovers will be treated to four rounds of fixtures in 10 days (11 in the cases of Leicester and West Brom) – starting, of course, on Boxing Day.
It’s a feast of festive football. But a combination of family gatherings, over-indulgence and the inevitable ‘Crimbo Limbo’ can make it quite difficult to stay across everything. Aside from your own team (and your rivals for promotion or relegation, of course), these are 12 EFL teams that you should be keeping an especially close eye on, and their fixtures on December 26th, 29th, New Year’s Day and January 4th…
Coventry City
1st in the Championship
Swansea (H), Ipswich (H), Charlton (A), Birmingham (A)
Despite winning only one of their last four games, Coventry are still six points clear of 2nd and 11 points clear of 3rd. A similar return in their next four games, however, would see that lead diminish significantly. The Sky Blues will be heavy favourites against Swansea and Charlton, but those fixtures aren’t as appealing as they were a couple of weeks ago. Sandwiched between those games is the rematch with Ipswich, after the Tractor Boys beat them 3-0 at the start of this month, and Coventry’s festive period is rounded off by a trip to St Andrew’s. Tasty.
Ipswich Town
3rd in the Championship
Millwall (A), Coventry (A), Oxford (H), Portsmouth (A)
Returning to the Love Actually theme, we’re all waiting for Ipswich to make their move and Christmas feels like the perfect time for them to do it. That being said, if Kieran McKenna’s side are going to reel in Middlesbrough over the next couple of weeks, then they’re going to have to improve their away form. Trips to The Den, the CBS Arena and Fratton Park will be far from straightforward for a team who have picked up just one point from their last three away games. Even so, their impressive squad depth really should make them a force to be reckoned with at this busy time of year – although an injury to George Hirst does leave them a little lighter at the top…
