The changing league table

Forest could do with a John McGreal

From around 4:30 p.m. or just after on Saturday we have scored seven goals without reply, rescued one game, hammered Ipswich in another, and whilst there can be no complacency whatsoever it does look a bit healthier.

Barnsley and Derby were the two sides we went above on Tuesday night. The fixture list was reduced because of Cardiff's and Crystal Palace's involvement in the Carling Cup and Birmingham again having a Europa League game.

That meant no game for Barnsley, but Derby are a club on the slide right now. They were beaten 1-0 at home to Brighton and that was their fifth successive defeat, a run that has seen them drop from 5th place to 16th. It also confirmed Brighton had climbed out of their recent slump, one that had seen them go nine games without a win. They've now won three of the last four.

Nothing's changed at the top of the league. Southampton continued their remarkable run at home, coming from behind to beat Hull 2-1 whilst second place West Ham were too strong for Middlesbrough, winning 2-0 at the Riverside. Boro boss Tony Mowbray was convinced he'd seen his side lose to one of the two to win promotion.

Leicester, a club who are ready to spend big again in January, have moved into the top six with a home win against Blackpool. They could possibly be the most likely to challenge the top two.

Down at the bottom, Bristol City came from 2-0 behind to continue their unbeaten run under Derek McInnes and finally move out of the bottom three. It's four wins and two draws for McInnes and a team that were bottom of the league when he took over.

A change of manager isn't quite having the same effect at Nottingham Forest. They were hammered 4-0 by Leeds at home. A Steve Cotterill team conceding four goals. That's something that never happened during his tenure as Burnley manager, a period where we didn't often concede three goals in a game let alone four.

Having said that, we know from our own experience what a poor defence Forest have and there don't appear to be many John McGreals or Frank Sinclairs out there just now for him to sort it.

Alongside Forest in the bottom three are Coventry and bottom club Doncaster. Both are seven points adrift. Coventry didn't play on Tuesday but Doncaster's all stars lost at Millwall.

How much does the league table count at the end of November? It's interesting to look back a year. QPR were top with Cardiff, play off losers, in second place. The play off places then were held by Swansea, Derby, Norwich and Coventry. Down at the bottom the relegation places were occupied by Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough and Preston. We were sat in seventh place, one point behind three of the teams in the play off positions.

The midweek results and stats are below along with the league's leading goalscorers, the disciplinary records of each club, the highest and lowest attendances and the fixtures over the next week.