Many thought that Doncaster would be the whipping boys of the division, having just come up through the play offs. Coventry on the other hand were thought to fare quite well, with manager Chris Coleman investing heavily in his strike force and making his side a seemingly much stronger outfit. As it turns out, both have had good starts and with both managers adopting a passing style of play, an interesting game looks to be on the cards.

We’ll start with a look at Doncaster and the side that manager Sean O’Driscoll has assembled. Donny looked to have one of the hardest starts possible when they had to travel to Pride Park for the first game of the season, yet they overcame everything and walked away with a deserved 1-0 win. Since then they got a good point at home to Cardiff, only to end their short unbeaten run with a defeat at QPR. However, O’Driscoll must be confident that his total football style of play will cut it at this level, despite early doubts from some quarters. Some believed that Donny simply didn’t have the steel for The Championship and they would not be able to maintain the passing style that worked so well last season. With the likes of James Hayter, Lewis Guy, Ritchie Wellens plus a host of young talent in Doncaster’s squad, there’s no reason why they can’t kick on from their impressive start though.

Coventry have collected six points out of a possible nine and look to have one of the most deadliest strike forces in the division. With the likes of Leon Best, Freddy Eastwood, Julian Gray, Michael Mifsud, Leon McKenzie and Clinton Morrison providing attacking options, Chris Coleman has assembled a forward line to be reckoned with. The Sky Blues gave Newcastle a run for their money midweek and as Kevin Keegan’s men found out, they provide a huge threat from set pieces with Elliot Ward and Scott Dann being particularly dangerous in the air.

Doncaster manager Sean O’Driscoll could have three pieces of good news with Jason Price, Darren Byfield and Matt Mills all fighting back and looking to recover from injuries in time for the game. As for the visitors, Freddy Eastwood should feature after recovering from a groin injury and Chris Coleman only has a serious doubt over Jay Tabb who is suffering from blisters on his feet. However, if Coleman is desperate, Tabb could play through the aid of painkilling injections.

As you can see, both sides have a lot going for them at the moment and it looks to be yet another exciting Championship game. Coventry have the better squad on paper but with Donny’s home advantage and recent confidence, we’ll go for a 2-2 draw.

Like most promoted sides; a few people thought that Swansea could struggle as they came to terms with The Championship. Similarly, Sheffield Wednesday have been a side who’ve often been involved in relegation scraps, so it’s a surprise to see both in their current top half positions.

The Swans are managed by Roberto Martinez, described by many as a bright upcoming manager. Martinez masterminded their promotion and out of the three teams who came up, Swansea were tipped to fare the best. Even though they lost influential midfielder Andy Robinson to Leeds, The Swans have still got plenty of quality in their squad with the likes of Jason Scotland, Ferrie Bodde and Leon Britton all having good reputations within the game. So far Swansea have managed to collect six points, with victories over Nottingham Forest and Plymouth providing those points. Martinez’s man have also got to the third round of the Carling Cup after beating Hull during the week, so it’s definitely been an impressive start and one that will encourage the Liberty Stadium faithful.

As for Wednesday, they had a start that absolutely no-one expected. They’ve battled against relegation for the last few years yet managed to trounce Burnley 4-1 on the opening day of the season. Admittedly, since then they haven’t fared as well after a 4-1 defeat to Wolves and then a 1-1 draw with Preston – but it’s definitely a better start than they had in the last campaign. However, one problem for Brian Laws is injuries, with key striker Akpo Sodje being the main victim. Sodje’s height and speed gives Wednesday an excellent outlet up front and his presence was a big factor in the opening day win against Burnley. There’s no doubt that The Owls have found life more difficult without him as not only does he provide a threat in front of goal, he allows his team to defend from the front.

Swansea striker Gorka Pintado may have to be contempt with a place on the bench after struggling with a back injury for most of the week. Elsewhere, Argentinian defender Fede Bessone will definitely be out, although Martinez is hopeful that the left back will be fit enough to return after the international break. As for Sheffield Wednesday, Brian Laws will be pleased to hear that tricky winger Jemal Johnson should be fit enough to start, although star strikers Francis Jeffers and Akpo Sodje will join Wade Small on the injury list.

Swansea have had a brilliant start to life in The Championship, yet Wednesday will be relatively happy as well. However, as recent games have shown, The Owls struggle without their key man in Sodje and this could be the case again. Swansea are good going forward and for this reason, we’ll go for a home win. 3-1 Swansea.

To say Reading and Palace are both tipped to be up there this season; both will be disappointed with their starts. Having just come down from the Premiership last season, Reading will have been hoping to bounce straight back yet have only picked up four points so far. Palace on the other hand have struggled even more, failing to score a league goal and picking up just two points.

A lot of people regard Royals manager Steve Coppell as one of the best English managers around and judging from his past success, you’d have to believe that Reading will be there or thereabouts. However, Coppell will be disappointed with his team’s start, with Reading managing to only draw with newly promoted Nottingham Forest before then recording their only league victory over Plymouth. However, they were thumped 4-2 by Charlton at The Valley and that result meant that they dropped to 12th. Obviously its early days still, yet with Coppell losing only two key players during the summer, many thought that Reading would be frontrunners and tough to compete with this season.

As for Palace, many expected them to be up there as well. Neil Warnock worked miracles last season in turning them from a relegation-threatened side, to one that made the play offs. However, things haven’t worked out so far and after losing star striker Clinton Morrison last season, Palace have struggled in front of goal. They’ve failed to score a league goal and compared to other sides, their run in hasn’t been that tough. Admittedly, Warnock has lost several key players such as John Bostock, Mark Kennedy and Morrison – yet after bringing in John Oster, Nick Carle, Calvin Andrew and Darryl Flahavan, you’d think they’d be performing slightly better. Warnock has a reputation of building well organised sides who have strong defences, yet his failure to invest in attacking players could cost him if recent weeks are to go by.

Reading manager Steve Coppell has something of a minor crisis in central defence, with Michael Duberry out with a calf injury and fellow centre half Ibrahim Sonko being recently sold to Stoke. However, Coppell can hand a debut to Chris Armstrong, who joined on loan from Championship rivals Sheffield United earlier in the week. Palace meanwhile are boosted by the returns of James Scowcroft and Shaun Derry, both who’ve returned from suspension. However, Neil Warnock may have to be without Sean Scannell and Neil Danns who are struggling with back and groin problems respectively.

As for a prediction, it’s a difficult one to judge. Palace got thumped 4-0 by Leeds and don’t look half the side they were last season. Reading still have a strong squad and after recording an impressive 5-1 victory over Luton, should be full of confidence and be able to win this one. We’ll go for a 2-0 home win.

This could be one of the most entertaining matches of the weekend, with Bristol City continuing their fantastic form from last season while QPR haven’t had a bad start after being labelled the bookies favourites to gain promotion.

Despite reaching the play off final last season, a few people believed that Bristol City may suffer from the infamous second season syndrome which hits so many clubs. However, The Robins have completely moved that suggestion aside, playing some fantastic football and collecting seven points from their opening three league games. Throughout the summer manager Gary Johnson was quite conservative with the cash he was given, just bringing in two players in the form of Nicky Maynard and Gavin Williams. With City coming so close last season this move looks to have worked out perfectly, with the above duo adding that extra bit of quality that the Ashton Gate outfit may require if they are to go all the way this season. They’ve certainly got the attacking quality, with the likes of Adebola, Maynard, McIndoe, Sproule and Trundle proving to be tricky customers for opposing defences. Their lack of pace at the back may catch them out sometimes, but after conceding just one goal in the league so far it looks as though they’re comfortable in that area at the moment as well.

It’s also been an encouraging start for QPR. They’ve collected six points out of a possible nine and bounced back well after a hefty 3-0 defeat to Sheffield United a couple of weeks ago. However, whether or not they can mount a serious promotion challenge is very debatable. They were labelled the bookies favourites due to the amount of money made available to Iain Dowie, yet he hasn’t added that many players during the summer. The likes of Emmanuel Ledesma and Daniel Parejo have come in on loan and already impressed, while Kaspars Gorkss, Gavin Mahon , Lee Cook and Peter Ramage also arrived during the summer. However, it’s very rare for a Championship-winning-side to be assembled overnight and even though the QPR squad has some quality, early results show that it’s not been plane sailing. Even though they’ve grinded two wins out of three in the league, their performances have been far from sparkling and they were against relegation favourites Barnsley and Doncaster. As soon as they faced a side in Sheffield United who are also tipped for success they crumbled, so it’ll be interesting to see how they fare against City in this one.

There is little team news to report for Bristol City, with Jamie McAllister being the only doubt after picking up an injury against Crewe midweek. QPR on the other hand have a few more worries, with Fitz Hall out and serious doubts being cast over Dexter Blackstock and Damien Delaney who have both been ill.

Both of these sides are capable of scoring goals so we could have a good game on the cards. While Bristol City are in great form at the moment, Iain Dowie knows the importance of these sort of fixtures and won’t accept anything like the debacle his side had against Sheffield United. With that, we’ll go for an entertaining 2-2 draw.