The home side make the first real chance of the game but Delano Burgzorg can't convert Finn Azaz's low cross.

A decent start so far for QPR, as Nicolas Madsen floats a free-kick over the bar.

It followed a clumsy challenge on the edge of the area from Watford's Moussa Sissoko.

The visitors look confident following their win and clean sheet at Cardiff on Wednesday.

An excellent start for League Two's bottom side Carlisle against promotion-chasing Crewe as Dominic Sadi has put them 1-0 up inside two minutes.

Victory today for the hosts would lift them out of the bottom two.

Fleetwood and Colchester remain goalless in our other fourth-tier game.

Peter Swan
Former Hull City player on BBC Radio Humberside

There is not much to choose from in terms of quality for Hull, we know they can play they are not bad players, they just need to be more consistent.

They need to get a run of games together and understand each other.

There are 18 places in the table between these two sides, but they will both be aware of the opportunity this game presents to them this afternoon.

Victory for fifth-placed Watford would help to cement their promotion ambitions.

Second-bottom Queens Park Rangers have the chance to move out of the bottom three for the first time in nine matches.

Don't forget, both of Marti Cifuentes' side's wins this season have come away from home.

Tyler Goodhram floats a nice ball into the box from the free-kick for Oxford but Elliott Moore is unable to get enough on it and it goes out for a goal-kick.

An early booking for Japhet Tanganga as he brings down Dane Scarlett who was trying to turn away from him midway inside the Millwall half. A long afternoon on a yellow now for the Lions defender.

Adam Lanigan
BBC Sport at Riverside Stadium

There are all sorts of songs that teams come out to, Z-Cars (Everton), Mark Knopfler's Local Hero (Newcastle) and of course, You'll Never Walk Alone at Liverpool.

But anyone who's ever been to the Riverside will recognise the tune. It would get me going if I was walking out as a player.

For those of you who've forgotten, it's 'Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag' by Pigbag.

And we're off in our three early Championship games and two League Two matches.

Blackburn's home game against Leeds gets under way in an hour.

Adam Lanigan
BBC Sport at Riverside Stadium

All of Hull City's Championship victories this season came in an 11-day spell at the end of September and start of October.

That nine-game winless run saw off the back of German head coach Tim Walter in midweek, but in truth he had struggled to win over the Tigers fanbase from day one.

As owner Acun Ilicali decides his next move, club legend Andy Dawson is in interim charge.

He won promotion four times as a player at the club, including twice to the Premier League and while that feels a very long way off currently, restoring a bit of positivity would not go amiss.

We've got just the two fixtures in League Two today due to a whole host of clubs featuring in the FA Cup second-round.

Both are lunchtime kick-offs at 12:30 GMT and both are biggies.

Third-placed Crewe Alexandra could go within two points of leaders Port Vale if they can win at Carlisle United, who are bottom, albeit only on goal difference from Morecambe and Swindon.

Colchester United are only four points off bottom but will seek to put further ground between themselves and the drop-zone by getting a result at Fleetwood Town, who are 13th.

Adam Lanigan
BBC Sport at Riverside Stadium

For play-off chasing and free scoring Middlesbrough, few would have expected the surprise 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday night.

But that has been the story of Boro's season. For all the big wins over QPR, Oxford and Luton, they have thrown away points at home.

The Blackburn loss can be added to Riverside defeats by Bristol City and Coventry and draws with Portsmouth and Preston North End - all games head coach Michael Carrick would have expected more from.

Look at the five teams above them - just one home loss between them from a combined 42 games and even that was Burnley's win at Leeds.

The message is clear - Boro won't move up the table unless they are ruthless at the Riverside.

Watford manager Tom Cleverley has made a couple of changes from their midweek win over Bristol City, as experienced midfielder Moussa Sissoko comes in to start in place of substitute Kwadwo Baah.

Yasser Larouci replaces Festy Ebosele in the left wing-back position.

Image source, BBC Sport

Queens Park Rangers boss Marti Cifuentes would have been tempted to keep things largely the same after his side managed just their second Championship win of the season at Cardiff on Wednesday.

He has also chosen to make two changes, with Kenneth Paal coming in for Harrison Ashby in defence, and Kieran Morgan replacing Jonathan Varane in midifeld.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Opta

Des Buckingham makes two changes to the Oxford United side that lost 3-0 at Sheffield United in midweek.

Hidde Ter Avest and Ruben Rodrigues both drop to the bench and are replaced in the starting line-up by Elliott Moore and Matt Phillips.

Image source, Opta

Neil Harris makes just the one change from the Millwall team that drew 1-1 with Sunderland last weekend.

Femi Azeez, who scored the Lions' late equaliser in that game, is rewarded with a start in place of the unwell Duncan Watmore.

Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick has really freshened things up after the surprise reverse by Blackburn by making five alterations.

Dael Fry, Anfernee Dijksteel, Hayden Hackney, Finn Azaz and Delano Burgzorg all come into the XI. It's a first start since February for defender Fry.

Image source, BBC Sport

Interim Hull City gaffer Andy Dawson makes just two changes from what proved to be Tim Walter's last selection in charge of the Tigers.

Charlie Hughes is suspended and Ryan Longman drops to the bench, with Sean McLoughlin and Abdus Omur coming in.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

If Watford avoid defeat this afternoon, it will be the first time that they have gone 13 league games unbeaten at home since March 1997.

The Hornets were second best to Bristol City throughout much of Tuesday's game, but still found a way to get three points in what was their fifth home win in a row.

They also kept their third consecutive clean sheet at Vicarage Road, while moving up into the play-off positions.

That makes tough reading for second-bottom Queens Park Rangers, who have won just twice in 17 Championship games this season.

But, if the hosts concede as many chances as they did midweek, Marti Cifuentes' side will still have hope that they can cause an upset.

Image source, Rex Features

This will be the first league meeting between these two sides since 2017 and it's fair to say they couldn't be in more contrasting form at the moment.

Oxford United have suffered three consecutive defeats, including two heavy losses against Middlesbrough and Sheffield United respectively in the past week.

Des Buckingham's side have won just one of their last 12 games (D5 L6) and are only two points above the drop zone in 18th position.

The U's welcome a Millwall side on an impressive eight-game unbeaten run (W4 D4) which has lifted them to ninth in the Championship and within three points of the play-off spots.

The Lions also have a a game in hand after their midweek clash with Portsmouth was called off due to a floodlight failure at Fratton Park.

Image source, Rex Features

It was all going so well for Middlesbrough until Wednesday night's visit from Blackburn Rovers.

The Teessiders were flying up the league and had scored 15 goals in winning their previous three games.

However, John Eustace's men weren't in such a charitable mood and fought out a 1-0 win that has halted Boro's charge up the Championship table.

Visitors Hull City, under the interim management of club legend Andy Dawson, will hope to follow where Rovers left off as they look to move out of the relegation zone.

The Tigers have lost their past four games and are winless in eight.

The East Yorkshire side do at least have a decent recent record against Middlesbrough, with just two defeats from the past eight meetings.

Image source, Rex Features

It was case of one out and one in in the Championship this week.

Hull City parted company with boss Tim Walter on Wednesday after just three wins from his 17 league matches in charge.

The German was sacked less than 24 hours after owner Acun Ilicali had said that he would not change the head coach even if they lost to Sheffield Wednesday.

Later that same day Coventry City appointed former Chelsea and Everton boss Frank Lampard as Mark Robins' successor on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

The ex-England midfielder takes charge of the Sky Blues today for his first game at this level since losing the 2019 play-off final to Aston Villa while in charge of Derby County.

You can read more about Lampard's return to management here from our chief football writer Phil McNulty here.

Image source, Rex Features

Sheffield United made it eight successive home wins without conceding a goal as they beat Sunderland last night to go back to the top of the Championship.

It was the visitors, who had drawn their previous five, who made the brighter start but Patrick Roberts missed a great chance to give them the lead when Michael Cooper saved his penalty.

Both teams then had a man sent off before the break, with Black Cats defender Chris Mepham seeing red for a last man foul on Tyrese Campbell before United centre-back followed him when he was shown a second yellow in time added on.

The second half couldn't match up to the action-packed first but it was the home side who eventually found the goal when former England Under-21 international midfielder Tom Davies scored his first goal in over three years with less than 10 minutes to go.