Rooney banking on home comfort - EFL midweek preview

Plymouth boss Wayne Rooney is banking on another home win against Portsmouth

November is a month of good and bad news for Championship fans.

The bad news? There is another international break looming.

However, the good news is there are six rounds of second-tier action crammed around it before the advent calendars come out.

Even better news is that we have six straight days of Championship football starting on Tuesday night.

Let's take a look at what this week has in store, shall we?

John Mousinho is seeking a win to get Portsmouth off the foot of the Championship

Blues and Greens all at sea before 'Dockyard Derby'

Is the basement battle between Plymouth and Portsmouth on Tuesday night the biggest game of the week in the second tier?

The Pilgrims have earned one point and scored a single goal in seven away games, meaning their other 11 points have come from their six games at Home Park.

Argyle boss Wayne Rooney was dealing with a raft of injuries and shuffled his pack for Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Leeds, telling BBC Radio Devon: “We had one eye on the game on Tuesday.

"We have to prepare right for it, and get ready for it, because it's a big game, and another game at Home Park, which we're looking forward to."

Portsmouth's form on the road is far better than at Fratton Park, with four points from their past three away matches after coming from behind to draw at Hull on Saturday.

Manager John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent: "We definitely should have won the [Hull] game but the performance level was brilliant. The big challenge now for us is that we react on Tuesday as if we lost the game and get after Plymouth."

The last time Portsmouth beat Plymouth was in September 2018, when Rooney was a DC United player helping England overcome the USA in a friendly at Wembley - winning his 120th and final cap.

Portsmouth are winless in seven against Argyle since then and have failed to win on their past six visits to Home Park.

If they can break that run, Mousinho's bottom side would overtake Plymouth, who might even drop to the foot of the table themselves, depending on QPR's result.

One thing's for sure, no matter the scoreline, do not switch off early.

Plymouth have scored game-changing goals in the 90th minute or later in three of their past four home games - beating both Sunderland and Blackburn, and equalising against Preston having been 3-1 down after 82 minutes last time out.

Three consecutive 1-0 wins have put Neil Harris and Millwall on the fringe of the play-off places

Bluebirds flying and Lions roaring

Sunderland and Leeds are the division's top two but are joined at the head of the form table over the past month by a pair of less likely names, Cardiff and Millwall.

Interim Bluebirds boss Omer Riza has overseen an astonishing turnaround, with 14 points from his past six games after Saturday's dramatic win over Norwich, but will it be enough to secure the job on a permanent basis?

Cardiff head to Luton on Wednesday without an away win in eight but could climb into the top half if they can inflict a third defeat in four on Rob Edwards' lowly Hatters, who sit outside the relegation zone on goal difference alone.

Neil Harris has been quietly going about his and Millwall's business, but Sunday's 1-0 win over Burnley, the Lions' third straight victory by that score, means they are up to seventh and plenty more eyes will be on The Den as Leeds visit on Wednesday.

"We're disappointed we're not higher up the league - we should have a lot more points than we have," Harris told BBC Radio London.

"We feel we are a team going in the right direction, but we haven't come across a team better than us yet."

Leeds join Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Notts County as the only unbeaten away sides in the top four tiers of English football, though they have drawn four of their six on their travels, keeping four clean sheets.

Leaders Sunderland kick off 15 minutes later than rivals Leeds on Wednesday as they head to Preston, though it's perhaps not a fixture the Black Cats will be relishing either.

They have won only four of the past 17 meetings between the sides and taken just four points from their most recent five visits to Deepdale.

Only Manchester City have a longer unbeaten streak in midweek home matches in the top four tiers than North End, who have taken 41 points from 21 league games under the lights at Deepdale.

Does this mean a chink of light for Sheffield United, who could close the gap at the top to a point if they can win at Bristol City on Tuesday?

Chris Wilder's side have taken 13 points from their past six visits to Ashton Gate, though the Robins are in fine form at home, unbeaten in 11, taking 23 points, albeit having drawn each of the past three.

Carlos Corberan's West Brom have scored just four goals in a seven-game winless streak

Hoops, U's and Baggies seek to turn tide

Pop quiz… which three teams are on the longest Championship winless streaks?

QPR? Yep, nine without a win, though they have drawn three in a row before Tuesday night's visit of unpredictable Middlesbrough, who have frankly been all over the place in recent weeks, mixing statement wins with meek defeats.

Oxford United are winless in eight and have even lost their proud unbeaten run at home, though they'll seek to start a new one on Tuesday with the visit of Hull City, who have not won at the U's since November 1975 – a run of 13 matches.

The other side without a win since 21 September? West Brom. The Baggies have scored just four goals in their past seven games, though they have drawn five in a row before they head to Burnley on Thursday.

They had to battle for a 1-1 draw at Luton on Friday and boss Carlos Corberan told BBC Radio WM: "You can criticise the way we tried to play. But you cannot criticise the effort. We just need to play with more quality."

Burnley have also scored just four goals in seven games since 21 September, though they still managed to collect 10 points in that run to cling on to fourth spot before a nine-game unbeaten run ended at Millwall on Sunday.

EFL top scorer Borja Sainz has nine goals in his last eight games, but Norwich have slipped to 10th

Goals in store as Canaries visit Owls?

Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich have shared a whopping 23 goals in their past five meetings ahead of Tuesday's clash at Hillsborough.

Both sides will be looking to bounce back after defeat on Saturday, City going down 2-1 at Cardiff in the dying seconds while Wednesday were humbled 6-2 at home by Watford.

Vakoun Bayo will seek to add to his haul of four second-half goals from that game as Watford head to Swansea trying to climb into the top four on Tuesday.

The Swans ended a six-match goal drought with victory at Oxford on Saturday but, still, only six goals have been scored in total across Swansea's past five home games.

Coventry will seek to make it three straight wins and climb into the top half when they host Derby on Wednesday, with the Rams taking just two points from their seven away games.

After back-to-back defeats, and three games without a goal, Blackburn are aiming to get back to winning ways against Stoke at Ewood Park.

The Potters have scored only once away, and that was in August, taking one point from five games on the road either side of that 1-0 win at Plymouth.

Top and bottom of League One taking shape

There are also two huge games in League One on Tuesday night, with implications at both ends of the table.

Winless basement boys Burton edged past Scarborough in the FA Cup first round on Saturday and will seek to build on that as fellow strugglers Crawley visit the Pirelli Stadium.

Crawley needed extra time to win at Maidenhead on Saturday but know a victory would be enough to haul them out of the relegation zone, dragging Leyton Orient below the dotted line.

Stockport were another side who needed the extra 30 minutes to avoid an upset, Kyle Wootton's goal seeing off Forest Green at Edgeley Park.

The Hatters are back in league action with a huge clash against Wycombe, who would go level with leaders Birmingham at the top with a win. County would go fourth, within two points of Wanderers, if they come out on top.

The BBC Sport website will have live text coverage of the EFL action every night from Tuesday to Friday, then again on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.