Off we go then...

On a night when we might need a boat rather than a car to get home can the Championship cause a splash?

Bon voyage everyone...

Image source, Opta

Despite defeat at Vicarage Road on Saturday, Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris has opted for the same team for the visit of Derby to the Stadium of Light.

As for Derby, defender Nat Phillips and winger Marcus Harness are in for their first starts for the club, while Eirin Cashin has the captain's armband for the first time.

Image source, Opta

Chris Peddy
BBC Sport at Loftus Road

The rain has been pouring on a miserable day in London but the good news is it has subsided in time for kick-off here at Loftus Road.

The QPR fans are yet to see their side win here in the league and they face a Hull side two points and five places above them in the table.

The in-form Tigers are looking for their third win in a row while the Hoops are looking to bounce back from defeat at Ewood Park against Blackburn, where Jonathan Varane was sent off in the first half.

But the home side are unbeaten in their last three meetings here in the league and will be looking for a big performance under the lights in front of their fans tonight.

Image source, Opta

Just the one change for Scott Parker from the stalemate at Oxford as Jeremy Sarmiento drops to the bench with Jaidon Anthony coming in.

Plymouth boss Wayne Rooney has rewarded Ibrahim Cissoko for his two-goal showing off the bench against Luton with a start with on-loan Michael Obafemi unable to face his parent club.

Nathanael Ogbeta and Victor Palsson are also in the side with Bali Mumba dropping down to the bench and skipper Joe Edwards missing altogether.

Image source, Opta

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport football news reporter at Turf Moor

Monday's rain has cleared up and it's a mild October evening in Lancashire as Burnley host Plymouth in the Championship, as two familiar faces go head to head.

The Clarets have undergone a summer of upheaval, with a completely new side to the one that was relegated and both clubs saw new managers come in too.

Ex-England midfielder Scott Parker's side have lost just one of their opening seven games so far, while former Three Lions skipper Wayne Rooney's Pilgrims have picked up form by winning two of their last three against Luton and Sunderland.

Image source, Opta

Tunisian midfielder Anis Ben Slimane has been handed his first Norwich start, in place of Oscar Schwartau who drops to the bench.

Daniel Farke has been forced into one change and names a side featuring 11 different nationalities for the first time in Leeds history.

Skipper Ethan Ampadu could be out until January with a knee ligament injury sustained against Coventry on Saturday, ending his run of 56 straight starts.

Ao Tanaka comes in for him, making his first start, while Pascal Struijk takes the armband.

Max Wober won’t be back much sooner than Ampadu after meniscus surgery while Dan James, Manor Solomon and Isaac Schmidt are also missing.

Image source, Opta

Image source, Opta

Luton manager Rob Edwards makes three changes from the side beaten away at Plymouth last Friday.

Goalscorer Victor Moses, Marvelous Nakamba and Jacob Brown are brought in to face Oxford.

Reuell Walters and Zack Nelson drop down to the bench while Tahith Chong misses out having sustained a head injury in that defeat at Home Park.

Oxford boss Des Buckingham was proud of his players in Saturday's goalless draw with Burnley and drops Siriki Dembele down to the bench with Owen Dale making his first league start of the season.

Image source, Opta

Image source, Opta

Coventry are searching for a second home league win of the season and boss Mark Robins picks a side which shows four changes from the side beaten at Leeds at the weekend.

In come, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Haji Wrright, Jake Bidwell and Brandon Thomas-Asante.

Todd Cantwell makes his first start for unbeaten Blackburn and Arnor Sigurdsson is on the bench after recovering from illness.

Image source, Opta

Image source, Opta

Omer Riza makes three changes as Cardiff seek to turn things around.

Callum O’Dowda and Will Fish failed to recover in time after coming off in the defeat at Hull.

Ollie Tanner replaces O’Dowda out wide while Dimitrios Goutas returns alongside Calum Chambers in defence and Joel Bagan is back from suspension and replaces Jamilu Collins at left-back.

Perhaps unsurprisingly former Bluebirds boss Neil Harris has named an unchanged Lions team from the one which thumped Preston 3-1 on Saturday.

Image source, Opta

Image source, Getty Images

Neil Harris returns to Cardiff City for the first time since being sacked as Bluebirds boss when Millwall visit the Welsh capital tonight.

Harris led Cardiff to the Championship play-offs in 2019-20 but was shown the door in January 2021 with the club 15th in the second tier - the same spot his Millwall side currently occupy.

Mick McCarthy, Harris’ replacement, only lasted until October 2021 and the next man in the hotseat, Steve Morison, was dismissed in September 2022.

Mark Hudson came next - and went after only 18 games in charge. Sabri Lamouchi’s reign was equally brief, with Erol Bulut lasting just over a season before he was axed earlier this month.

Interim boss Omer Riza will take the reins for the second time following Saturday's 4-1 defeat at Hull.

“I can’t question the players’ application and character – they have been superb,” he said.

“Now we have to look forward to Millwall, a real tough game at home.

“We have to kick on, we have to improve. We have not had much time to work on things, but there was a dramatic improvement in some of the things we did [at Hull] - but we have got to stop letting in goals and we have got to score more.”

Harris, by the by, is unbeaten in four matches managing against Cardiff over his career.

Image source, Rex Features

It's fair to say Luton and Oxford have seen the best of times and the worst of times in English football but lived to tell the tale.

Thirty six years ago this was a game in the top-flight and 14 years ago it was between two sides operating in non-league football.

From falling out of the EFL in 2009 it took Luton five years to get back, but from those lows came the highs of reaching the Premier League in 2023 before relegation last season.

Currently 19th, it's been a struggle for Rob Edwards' side to readjust to life back in the Championship but tonight they go for successive home wins in the league for the first time since April last year.

Oxford's fall from grace came in 2007 and they took four years to return to the EFL.

A surprise promotion last season has resulted in a steady start to a first second tier campaign since 1999 but they have lost all three on their travels, albeit by a single goal.

Oxford are winless in their past nine visits to Kenilworth Road, a run which started with a 7-4 defeat - something similar this evening and we're in for a Dickens of a night...

Image source, Rex Features

Sunderland may have missed the chance to go top of the Championship when they lost at Watford on Saturday, but it does not alter the fact they have started very well under Regis Le Bris.

Three strong home wins, all with clean sheets, against Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley and Middlesbrough have done wonders to lift the mood in the Black Cats ranks.

There was excitement and uncertainty ahead of those games, but there will be expectation tonight against a Derby County side, who have lost all three of their matches on the road.

The Rams have settled in nicely following promotion from League One, especially at Pride Park, but one or two good away results won't go amiss.

100% success at home v 0% away - a banker of a result? Not in this league!

Image source, Rex Features

Cardiff City’s defeat at Hull City on Saturday meant the club are enduring their worst ever start to a season – and it is also among the poorest openings in Championship history.

The Bluebirds have taken just one point from their opening seven games.

The miserable return – which includes only two goals scored and 17 conceded – is among the lowest since the second tier was rebranded as the Championship in 2004.

Over those 20 years, only Wycombe in 2020 and Peterborough in 2012 have picked up fewer points from their first seven games, with both sides eventually going down.

And while eight others in that timespan also picked up just one point, none had a goal difference as poor as the Bluebirds’ current tally of minus 15.

Interim boss Omer Riza is seeking to end a run of three home defeats, all without scoring, to start the campaign. Cardiff have never lost their first four at home in any season since they were founded in 1899.

The good news for City fans? Cardiff have lost just one of their past 11 home games against the Lions, claiming 18 points and failing to concede more than once in any of them.

Image source, Rex Features

Three days after West Brom suffered their first defeat of the season, and a shock one at that at Sheffield Wednesday, they have the chance to get back on the horse.

That is the unrelenting nature of the Championship as there is always another game in which to retain or regain your form.

Last season, West Brom were midweek masters with 23 points from the nine rounds of fixtures - no side collected more - and if Carlos Corberan's side are similarly good this time, they will probably be in for an excellent season.

Middlesbrough are another side with lofty ambitions. They have lacked consistency in the early weeks, but a win over Stoke on Saturday was a welcome step in the right direction.

If Michael Carrick's team down the Baggies, it would be a leap into the promotion discussion.

Image source, Getty Images

These are two clubs for whom this season was even more of a clean slate in the Championship than usual.

For QPR, a full season under Marti Cifuentes after he did excellently to drag them away from relegation last term when they had been favourites to drop for months.

After seven games, it's probably a case or are you a glass half-full or half-empty person? You could think it's only one defeat in six and a team that is hard to beat, but there is only one win to celebrate, hence why the Hoops begin the night in 17th.

The board clearly think the former, given the Spaniard has been rewarded this week with a new long-term contract.

Hull and their German boss Tim Walter are still getting to know each other but successive victories have quietened any grumbles following no wins in their first five.

Neither team's season has truly taken shape but we're probably only two or three games from reaching that point, so the first midweek game of the season could offer a few pointers.

Image source, Rex Features

The contrast in home and away fortunes for these two sides couldn't be much more stark.

Before the start of the season Coventry had lost just five of their previous 37 matches at home, this season they've lost five out of their first six with a solitary last minute win over Oxford to show for their efforts.

Mark Robins' side are also among the fourth lowest scorers in the Championship and have lost their last two.

Coventry's woes are far removed from Blackburn where everything is rosy in the Rovers garden.

Only five sides in English football's top four tiers remain unbeaten and John Eustace's team is one of them.

Alongside Sunderland they're the Championship's top scorers with Japanese forward Yuki Ohashi having found the back of the net five times in all competitions

Blackburn have drawn all three on the road so far.

Image source, Getty Images

Daniel Farke is no stranger to Carrow Road having spent four years in the dugout there, including guiding Norwich City to the Premier League in 2019 and 2021.

The German's first return to his old club served up plenty of drama last season as Leeds came from two goals behind to win 3-2 - their third straight win at Carrow Road.

Leeds also beat Norwich 1-0 at Elland Road in January, meaning the Canaries are still yet to get the better of their former manager.

The Whites have won the past four meetings between the sides, they have not won five straight in their history.

They are also the only side not to have conceded a goal on the road this campaign, if they can make it four games they will be just the sixth club in second tier history to do so.

Like Farke, Norwich's new head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup is also aiming to make it three wins in a row while the Canaries are on an 18-game unbeaten streak at home, claiming 42 points, their best run since 1972.

Game of the night? Feel free to tell us via the usual channels...

Image source, Getty Images

Scott Parker made his England international debut when he came off the bench to replace Wayne Rooney against Denmark in November 2003.

They went on to play together for the Three Lions at Euro 2012 but tonight the duo will face-off as opposing managers for just the third time as Burnley host Plymouth Argyle.

The last time the pair met was in the 2021-22 Championship season when Parker was in charge of Bournemouth and Rooney with Derby, each coming out on top in their home fixtures.

After a difficult start to his Argyle tenure, Rooney has steadied the ship at Home Park, picking up two wins in the past three games, including an impressive 3-1 victory against Luton on Friday.

They have collected just a point from their past five away games, however, failing to score in four of those, while they haven't won at Turf Moor since 1977, taking only three points from their last 13 visits.

They're up against it tonight too, the Clarets have lost just once in 39 home games and are unbeaten in midweek since February 2013 - a run of 19 matches.

Burnley's quest to bounce straight back into the top flight has started well, with four wins from seven, and they will be confident of making that five tonight.

Image source, Rex Features

A full slate of fixtures from the most unpredictable league on earth, all under the floodlights. We are in for a treat...

Tuesday

Burnley v Plymouth Argyle

Cardiff City v Millwall

Coventry City v Blackburn Rovers

Luton Town v Oxford United

Norwich City v Leeds United

Queens Park Rangers v Hull City

Sunderland v Derby County

West Bromwich Albion v Middlesbrough (20:00)

Wednesday

Preston North End v Watford

Sheffield United v Swansea City

Stoke City v Portsmouth

Bristol City v Sheffield Wednesday (20:00)

Image source, Rex Features

There can be few more enticing phrases in the English language than "full programme of midweek fixtures".

It might be a school night but oh do we have a line-up to warm up even the most dreary Tuesday night in October.

There are England heroes facing-off, managers returning to their former clubs, history in the making and any one of FIVE clubs could sit top of the table come bedtime.

Let's dive in, shall we?