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Sports Mole's Championship Team of the Week

Sports Mole selects its team of the week in the Championship, as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and the best goal from Gameweek 16.

Gameweek 16 in the Championship gave us just 21 goals and a pair of red cards on Friday and Saturday.

There is now a three-way lead at the top after Burnley drew their third consecutive game at Nottingham Forest, while Leicester City and Queens Park Rangers saw off Ipswich Town and Charlton Athletic respectively.

At the bottom, Yeovil Town continue to prop up the rest but will feel some relief at the fact that other strugglers Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley also fell to losses against Huddersfield Town and Millwall respectively.

Here, Sports Mole picks out its best XI of the weekend as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and best goal.

Alex McCarthy (Reading)
A second week in a row in the keeper's spot for McCarthy after another save-heavy performance against Blackburn Rovers. It ended goalless at Ewood Park, with Reading now winless in four.

Bruno Saltor (Brighton)
The Seagulls right-back put in an all-action performance as Oscar Garcia's side picked up an unlikely away victory at Wigan Athletic.
Jamaal Lascelles (Forest)
The Forest centre-back kept the division's hottest strike duo in Sam Vokes and Danny Ings relatively quiet at the City Ground, with Vokes only finding the net from the penalty spot.
Alex Pearce (Reading)
Pearce was dominant in the air at both ends of the pitch while also shutting down the ever-dangerous Jordan Rhodes.
Tyler Blackett (Blackpool)
Manchester United teenage loanee Blackett made two goal-line clearances as the Tangerines drew 1-1 with Birmingham.

Tom Cairney (Blackburn)
Cairney looked assured on the ball all afternoon against Reading, making an impressive 88% of his passes in a slightly unfavoured role on the wing.
Adam Clayton (Huddersfield)
Clayton kept his head over a difficult bouncing ball to put the Terriers 2-0 ahead and out of reach against Yorkshire rivals Wednesday.
Nicky Bailey (Millwall)
A snappy performance from Bailey as Millwall arrested a slide of six games without a win against Barnsley.
Mark Duffy (Doncaster)
Duffy's free kick provided the unlikely winner for Donny after they had gone down to 10 men in the final moments against Yeovil.

Jamie Ward (Derby)
Ward made it five goals in seven games with the match-winner against Bournemouth as Derby's solid away form continued.
David Nugent (Leicester)
The Foxes' top scorer loves playing against Ipswich and made it 13 in 12 appearances against the Tractor Boys with a match-winning brace in Suffolk.

Numpty of the Week

Manuel Almunia: A second time this season that former Arsenal stopper Almunia has been our Championship numpty. The Spaniard earns the unfortunate accolade this time around because of his butter fingers that allowed Bolton's Jermaine Beckford to poke the ball in for the winner at Vicarage Road.

Goal of the Week

Charlie Austin (QPR) vs. Charlton: Known for his right-place-right-time prowess, Austin showed that he is not all about the poaching with a crisp 25-yard drive that flew into the corner as Rangers eked out another narrow victory while keeping their 10th clean sheet of the season.

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Written by
Pascal Lemesre
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A general view of Blackburn Rovers' stadium Ewood Park on October 30, 2010
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Wycombe WanderersWycombe18124239211840
2Wrexham19124328111740
3Birmingham CityBirmingham17123232161639
4Huddersfield TownHuddersfield18112528161235
5Stockport CountyStockport1996431191233
6Reading189453025531
7Bolton WanderersBolton179352827130
8Barnsley197662725227
9Lincoln CityLincoln197662423127
10Mansfield TownMansfield177372222024
11Exeter CityExeter187381619-324
12Charlton AthleticCharlton186571819-123
13Blackpool186572631-523
14Stevenage176471316-322
15Peterborough UnitedPeterborough186393332121
16Leyton Orient186391920-121
17Northampton TownNorthampton195682126-521
18Bristol Rovers186391726-921
19Wigan AthleticWigan185581516-120
20Rotherham UnitedRotherham175571620-420
21Crawley TownCrawley185491728-1119
22Cambridge UnitedCambridge1844101829-1116
23Burton Albion1825111630-1411
24Shrewsbury TownShrewsbury1832131835-1711


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