The top of the table clash between two of Championship’s early-pace-setters, Swansea City and Leeds United at Elland Road was expected to be one of the main attractions of Round 6, and after a tense, hard-fought ninety minutes in West Yorkshire, it was the Swans who had the last laugh.
Leeds controlled the possession for large quarters of the game and the likes of Patrick Bamford, Jack Harrison and Ezgjan Alioski all came close to opening the scoring for the Whites, only to be denied by some tight and resolute defending by Steve Cooper’s side.
Wayne Routledge proved to be the super-sub for the Swans, as the winger’s shot tricked into the goal in the 90th minute to ensure that the Welsh outfit went into the international break on top of the standings, while Marcelo Bielsa’s side only have themselves to blame for failing to make their chances count.
Elsewhere, Charlton Athletic continued their fairytale start to the campaign with yet another impressive 2-0 victory over Reading away from home. Goals from Jonathan Taylor and Lyle Taylor propelled the Addicks to second place in the standings, with Lee Bowyer’s side boasting of 4 wins from their first six games.
Having played out draws against Reading and Derby County in their previous couple of fixtures, West Brom returned to winning ways this weekend as the Baggies edged out Blackburn Rovers 3-2 at home to continue their unbeaten run in the Championship.
Bradley Dack opened the scoring for the visitors inside the first minute of the game before goals from Matt Phillips, Jake Livermore and Grady Diangana made it 3-1 in favour of Slaven Bilic’s side. Bradley Johnson made it 3-2 in first-half injury-time and it stayed that way in the second half.
Meanwhile, Bristol City played host to Middlesbrough on the back of three consecutive victories in the Championship but the Robins could only manage a 2-2 draw, thus heading into the break placed 5th in the standings.
Kasey Palmer opened the scoring for Lee Johnson’s side just at the stroke of the interval before an own goal from Taylor Moore restored parity. Britt Assombalonga’s strike in the 68th minute promised to hand Boro their second win of the season but a goal from Tommy Smith saved the blushes for the hosts.
There wasn’t much joy for the likes of Cardiff City and Fulham though, as both the teams played out a rather stale 1-1 draw in South Wales on Saturday. Josh Murphy’s opener was cancelled out by Aleksandar Mitrovic, who netted his fifth goal of the season.
The Cottagers had the better chances to turn one point into three but Harry Arter’s second bookable offence midway through the second half meant that Scott Parker’s side went into the break with 10 points in their opening six games this term.
Elsewhere, Sheffield Wednesday suffered their second successive league defeat to drop down to 11th in the standings, as Mark Warburton’s QPR upset the Owls 2-1 at Hillsborough on Saturday.
Ashley Fletcher opened the scoring for Lee Bullen’s side from the spot in the first half but Jordan Hugill’s second-half brace fired QPR to back-to-back wins in the league.
Stoke City’s woeful start to the season doesn’t look likely to end anytime soon as the Potters went down 2-1 away at Birmingham City, thus suffering their fifth loss in six games.
Goals from Lukas Jutkiewicz and Jude Bellingham cancelled out Liam Lindsay’s opener to hand the Blues their third win of the campaign.
There was nothing much to talk about in the goalless draw between Wigan Athletic and Barnsley, barring the red card incident featuring Barnsley’s Ben Williams, who received the marching orders from the referee in injury-time.
Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 loss against newcomers Luton Town ensured that the Terriers will be heading into the international break without a single win in their first six games.
James Collins’ goal from the penalty spot cancelled out Karlan Grant’s opener before Andrew Shinnie’s strike handed the Hatters their second victory of the season.
Preston North End played out a 1-1 draw away at Nottingham Forest, while Hull City faced the same fate away at Millwall. Brentford, though, pulled off a surprise with a resounding 3-0 victory over Derby County at home.
Both teams came into the game at Griffin Park with only a solitary win in their opening five games and Bryan Mbuemo’s first goal of the Championship followed by a brace from Ollie Watkins inflicted a heavy defeat on Phillip Cocu’s side, who dropped down to 19th in the standings.