Championship Matchday 22 Review
In MatchDay 22 the top four all won, leaving Wolves four points clear and creating a four point gap to 5th and 6th placed Aston Villa and Sheffield United who both lost and who now play each other next week.

Wolves' win also extended their unbeaten run to eight games and they have now won 10 of their last 12 league games since the end of September.

Fulham, hoping for their fourth win in five games, lost to the only goal at Sunderland unable to convert their possession into decent chances. The win ended a home winless run, for Sunderland of nearly a year and a record 21 games in all competitions.

This is the second time Fulham have been beaten and ended a record winless run for Sunderland. That time Chris Coleman was in charge of Fulham.

Brentford drew at home to Barnsley at Griffin Park leaving them one point behind Fulham. Brentford have now drawn seven league games at Griffin Park out of their last 10 home games.

At the bottom end of the Championship strugglers Birmingham and QPR met at St. Andrews and QPR ran out 2-1 winners after a 17 match winless run. Birmingham ended up bottom of the Championship as Burton leapfrogged them after unexpectedly beating Burton.




Ruben Neves' classy first-half finish helped Championship leaders Wolves edge past struggling Sheffield Wednesday to go seven points clear at the top.

The hosts' best chance came early on, Adam Reach slicing wide when well-placed, but they struggled to create.

Against the run of play, Neves, the Championship's most expensive player, stroked into the corner from 25 yards.

Neves denied Ross Wallace a tap-in as the Owls pressed but a late Morgan Fox red card allowed Wolves to see it out.

Defeat added pressure on Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal - who watched from the stands because of a touchline ban - with his side without a win in six.





Jack Robinson's double gave QPR their first away success of the season with a narrow win at lowly Birmingham City.

The visitors went in front when Robinson headed home a Luke Freeman free-kick from close range.

On-loan Southampton striker Sam Gallagher equalised when he poked home after Alex Smithies spilled Maikel Kieftenbeld's effort.

Robinson, who had never previously scored before Saturday's game, won it with a fine low shot.

Defeat by the R's saw Blues slip to the bottom of the Championship, with boss Steve Cotterill having guided them to just two wins during his 11 games in charge.



Lloyd Dyer's goal lifted Burton off the bottom of the table and dragged Bolton back into the relegation zone.

The Brewers went ahead when a headed clearance fell to Dyer whose 25-yard volley sneaked into the bottom corner.

Bolton almost levelled when David Wheater's header bounced down off the crossbar and goalkeeper Stephen Bywater blocked Darren Pratley's follow-up.

The visitors held out against second-half pressure to claim only their second win in 14 matches.



Barnsley held on to end a run of five Championship defeats with a goalless draw against Brentford. Both sides had chances to snatch victory in a hard-fought encounter.

Brentford's Yoann Barbet drilled a shot past Adam Davies' post from 25 yards before Tom Bradshaw poked Harvey Barnes' cross just over for the Tykes.

Ollie Watkins almost earned the Bees all three points deep in second-half stoppage time, but his close-range effort was kept out by Davies.

Barnsley's clean sheet was their first in their past 18 Championship away games, a run stretching back to a 2-0 win at Blackburn in April. But they have scored only once in their past six games and are just four points above the relegation zone.

Brentford, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten league run at Griffin Park to 10 games, although seven of those have ended level.



Bristol City continued their impressive form with a hard-fought home victory over Nottingham Forest, their fourth successive Championship win.

Marlon Pack's 20-yard strike, his first goal of the season, and Joe Bryan's deflected effort put City 2-0 up.

Kieran Dowell then cut Forest's deficit moments after the break, guiding a long-range shot over Frank Fielding.

Tyler Walker came close to equalising, but the Robins held on to remain four points off second-placed Cardiff City.

Lee Johnson's side, who face Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday, have now won eight of their past 10 games in all competitions.



Ruben Neves' classy first-half finish helped Championship leaders Wolves edge past struggling Sheffield Wednesday to go seven points clear at the top.

The hosts' best chance came early on, Adam Reach slicing wide when well-placed, but they struggled to create.

Against the run of play, Neves, the Championship's most expensive player, stroked into the corner from 25 yards.

Neves denied Ross Wallace a tap-in as the Owls pressed but a late Morgan Fox red card allowed Wolves to see it out.

Defeat added pressure on Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal - who watched from the stands because of a touchline ban - with his side without a win in six.



Clinical finishing proved the difference as Ipswich Town ended Reading's five-match unbeaten run.

Town were soon ahead when Callum Connolly latched onto Martyn Waghorn's through ball and fired low past Vito Mannone from the edge of the area. They doubled the lead when Joe Garner headed in from a corner.

Reading piled on plenty of pressure, but could not break through a stubborn defence, with midfielder Dave Edwards denied by Jordan Spence's fine block.

The sides had failed to serve up a goalless draw in all of their 58 previous meetings, and it took only a few minutes for Ipswich to extend that record.

Reading have seen more of the ball than any team in the Championship this season, and had three-quarters of the first-half possession, carving out more chances in the process.



Pontus Jansson's header gave Leeds United victory over Norwich City to leave Thomas Christiansen's side a point off the Championship's top six.

Leeds threatened from set-pieces and Jansson rose highest to convert Pawel Cibicki's corner via the far post.

Alex Pritchard went closest to levelling for Norwich, beating goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald but seeing his effort come back off the bar.

Samuel Saiz also struck the woodwork for Leeds after going through on goal.

Defeat for the Canaries leaves them 16th, having won only one of their past nine league matches.

15:00

Millwall

2-1

Middlesbrough

-

15:00

Preston

1-0

Sheff Utd

-

15:00

Sunderland

1-0

Fulham

-

17:30

Cardiff

1-0

Hull

Sky

Championship Fixtures - MatchDay 23
KO	Home		Away	TV
Friday 22nd December 2017
19:45	Norwich	v	Brentford	Sky
Saturday 16th December 2017
15:00	Bolton	v	Cardiff	-
15:00	Derby	v	Millwall	-
15:00	Fulham	v	Barnsley	-
15:00	Leeds	v	Hull	-
15:00	Preston	v	N. Forest	-
15:00	QPR	v	Bristol C	-
15:00	Reading	v	Burton	-
15:00	Sheff Wed	v	Middlesbrough	-
15:00	Sunderland	v	Birmingham	-
15:00	Wolves	v	Ipswich	-
17:30	Aston Villa	v	Sheff Utd	Sky
League Table