After a two-week break, Sports Mole's Championship Team of the Week is back.
Over the weekend Gameweek 25 gave us 29 goals and two red cards. It all began on Friday night when league leaders Leicester City romped past East Midlands rivals and fellow high-flyers Derby County by four goals to one to extend their lead at the summit.
The Foxes' nearest challengers Burnley and Queens Park Rangers did cut the deficit by winning their matches on Saturday at Yeovil Town and Ipswich Town respectively.
At the bottom, Charlton Athletic and Barnsley's match was postponed because of an unsafe pitch at The Valley, while Sheffield Wednesday pulled further clear of the bottom three thanks to a memorable 6-0 thrashing of Yorkshire rivals Leeds United.
Below, SM picks out its best XI from Friday and Saturday's matches as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and the best goal.
Ali Al-Habsi (Wigan Athletic)
After not featuring at all for the first four months of the season, Al-Habsi has now made five straight starts for Wigan in the league and kept four clean sheets in those games. On Saturday, he held firm between the sticks as Bournemouth were swept aside at the DW Stadium.
Ritchie De Laet (Leicester)
De Laet opened the scoring against Derby with a wonderful goal by cutting in from the right and exchanging passes with David Nugent before burying the ball in the bottom corner with his left foot.
Kaspars Gorkss (Reading)
Gorkss made the difference for Reading by scoring the only goal against Watford as the Royals climbed to within a point of the playoff places.
Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough)
Williams was a rock at the back as Boro won on the road at Blackpool to continue their good form under new manager Aitor Karanka.
Reda Johnson (Sheffield Wednesday)
It was an incredible day for the Owls and it all started thanks to Johnson's slightly untidy but effective finish.
David Lopez (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Lopez was the match-winner for the Seagulls as they ended Birmingham City's 10-game unbeaten run on Saturday. The Spaniard's goal was a thing of beauty and you can read more about it below.
Kieran Lee (Sheffield Wednesday)
Lee rightly earned the man-of-the-match award for his display against Leeds. Despite not finding the net, he laid on two goals and was a constant source of calm in the middle of the park.
Dean Marney (Burnley)
Burnley are just about keeping up with Leicester and Marney played a crucial role for the Clarets at Yeovil Town on Saturday by advancing into the area before unselfishly squaring for Sam Vokes to tap home and put the result beyond doubt.
Mustapha Carayol (Middlesbrough)
He may have only played around half an hour, but Carayol scored both goals for Boro, the first of which was a rocket finish into the roof of the net.
Marc-Antoine Fortune (Wigan)
Fortune played a part in all three of Wigan's goals against Bournemouth. He smashed the Latics ahead after just five minutes, then had his shot diverted into his own net by Elliott Ward before teeing up Jordi Gomez for the third.
David Nugent (Leicester)
Leicester's top scorer was at it again on Friday night as he found the net twice and set up the other two goals for De Laet and Jamie Vardy. Although one goal was a penalty and the other heavily deflected, his passes for the other two goals were perfectly weighted.
Numpty of the Week
Tommy Smith: Ipswich centre-back Smith came so close to winning both biggest numpty and best goal, but unfortunately he only claims the dunce hat. Although his consolation for the Blues was an acrobatic volley, his hesitancy gifted Armand Traore QPR's third to ensure that there was no late Ipswich fightback.
Goal of the Week
David Lopez (Brighton) vs. Birmingham: Plenty of great strikes this weekend but there can only be one winner and it's Brighton's creative Spaniard Lopez. The ball may have broken to him fortunately, but Lopez stroked home a classy volley from a tight angle to win the game for Brighton, who rose into the playoff places. It's lucky that Lopez scored when he did because he was about to be substituted by manager Oscar Garcia!
Pascal Lemesre
