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Championship Team of the Week

Sports Mole picks out the individual best and worst of a fiery fourth round of fixtures in the Championship.

A fiery fourth round of fixtures in the Championship saw 42 goals and three red cards.

Six sides - Forest, Blackpool, Leicester, QPR, Watford and Leeds - still have unbeaten records, with Billy Davies's Forest on top thanks to their superior goal difference.

Below, Sports Mole picks out its best XI as well as highlighting this week's numpty and best goal.

Karl Darlow (Forest)
Just days after signing a new four-year deal, the Forest stopper put in a second-half performance against Watford to show why he is valued by Billy Davies.

Todd Kane (Blackburn)
The young right-back, on loan from Chelsea, provided a goal and two assists as Blackburn romped past a struggling Barnsley side.
Kirk Broadfoot (Blackpool)
Of the teams setting the early pace, Blackpool are the most surprising name at the top of the table. A clean-sheet victory against Reading was a great result for Paul Ince's side and the brave performance of Broadfoot at the back was key.
Richard Keogh (Derby)
A clean sheet away from home is the dream for a defender and that's what Keogh achieved as Derby trounced Yeovil. Keogh also provided an assist as Derby moved into the top half of the table.
Aaron Cresswell (Ipswich)
Despite being on the losing side, Ipswich left-back Cresswell was the star against Leeds. He took advantage of Leeds's narrow formation to bomb forward and deliver crosses. He almost scored a sensational goal too when his dipping strike crashed back off the crossbar.

Adam Hammill (Huddersfield)
A bench-warmer at the start of the season, Hammill's recent displays have seen him start for the Terriers and Saturday's opening goal and assist against Bournemouth will mean that the former Wolves man is a shoe-in for next week.
Diego Fabbrini (Watford)
Summer signing Fabbrini saw plenty of the ball against Forest and for the most part was clever in his use of it. Adlene Guedioura, in particular, had a horrible day marking the playmaker.
Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough)
It's not been the easiest of starts for Tony Mowbray's Boro but Sunday's draw at Wigan was an encouraging result. Leadbitter was the man of the match, setting up George Friend for the first before scoring himself after the break.
Joshua King (Blackburn)
He may have been taken off with 10 minutes to go against Barnsley but King's performance from the right wing was one of the main reasons Barnsley were so convincingly seen off at Ewood.

Jamie Vardy (Leicester)
Perhaps the lesser-known of Leicester's front three, Vardy outshone Chris Wood and David Nugent as the Foxes staged a dramatic late comeback to see off Birmingham and maintain their unbeaten record.
James Vaughan (Huddersfield)
Vaughan joined Troy Deeney at the top of the scorers chart with a hat-trick against Bournemouth as Huddersfield notched their second win of the season.

Numpty of the Week

Tom Heaton: It's rare for a keeper to be sent off for two separate bookings but that's what happened as Burnley keeper Heaton got lucky by only seeing yellow for bringing down Will Buckley before getting his marching orders for unsporting behaviour. It won't have impressed Sean Dyche as the Clarets' unbeaten start to the season came to an end on the South Coast.

Goal of the Week

Lewis McGugan (Forest) vs. Watford: The spotlight was on McGugan as he faced boyhood club Forest for the first time since leaving for Watford this summer. He wasn't fazed and curled home the Hornets' equaliser with a sublime free kick that started outside the post and bent back into the top corner.

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Watford's Lewis McGugan celebrates after scoring his team's fourth goal against Bournemouth on August 10, 2013
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Championship Team of the Week
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal34245582265677
2Manchester CityMan City33237380324876
3Liverpool34228475344174
4Aston Villa34206871502166
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs32186865491660
6Manchester UnitedMan Utd33165125150153
7Newcastle UnitedNewcastle331551369541550
8West Ham UnitedWest Ham34139125463-948
9Chelsea32138116157447
10Bournemouth34129134960-1145
11Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton331111115254-244
12Wolverhampton WanderersWolves34127154654-843
13Fulham34126165054-442
14Crystal Palace34109154456-1239
15Brentford3498175259-735
16Everton34118153648-1233
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3479184260-1826
18Luton TownLuton3467214775-2825
19Burnley3458213769-3223
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd3437243392-5916


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