Image source, Rex Features

Four games in the third tier today.

Fifth-placed MK Dons can consolidate their top-six place with three points at mid-table Burton Albion.

Ipswich and Plymouth will look to boost their play-off hopes with victory at struggling AFC Wimbledon and Fleetwood respectively.

Bottom side Gillingham host Shrewsbury in desperate need of a win to give their flagging survival hopes a boost.

• AFC Wimbledon v Ipswich Town
• Burton Albion v Milton Keynes Dons
• Fleetwood Town v Plymouth Argyle
• Gillingham v Shrewsbury Town

Image source, Rex Features

This is Peterborough's second trip to the West Midlands in four days after their 3-0 defeat at West Brom on Saturday.

Darren Ferguson's men start the night three points adrift of safety but with two games in hand on beleaguered Reading.

They've lost their past three matches and have won just once away from home all season but did beat Blues 3-0 when the two sides met in September.

Lee Bowyer's men claimed a vital 2-1 win against Barnsley on Saturday to keep a decent buffer between themselves and the relegation zone but the result was almost immaterial on a day when fans protested against the club's ownership before and during the match.

Inconsistency is a word that aptly sums up both Luton and Bristol City’s seasons so far, which is probably why not much separates them in 13th and 16th in the table.

Just when Luton were gathering some momentum, drawing with Fulham, then beating Reading and Bournemouth they lose 2-0 to Sheffield United.

The wins against Reading and Bournemouth were the first time this season the Hatters have recorded two on the bounce, something their rivals tonight are still yet to do.

The Robins secured an impressive 3-2 win over Cardiff in the Severnside derby, but Nigel Pearson’s side have crucially not yet backed up one win with another. Breaking that run would be a massive morale-booster.

If you'd told fans of Coventry and Stoke that they'd be 10th and ninth respectively at this stage of the season back in August, you'd imagine both fanbases would have been pretty content.

However, prior to recent runs of indifferent form both sides were firmly in the play-off shake-up.

The Sky Blues and the Potters do have games in hand on sixth-placed Huddersfield but with teams around them in better form this feels like one neither side can afford to lose.

Struggling Barnsley are having a tough old time of it this season.

The Tykes, who are without boss Poya Asbaghi this evening as he's at home with an illness, are rock bottom of the Championship, below a Derby side who have been deducted 21 points, and have won just twice all season.

They're yet to taste victory on their travels and the chances of them ending that wait this evening seem slim.

Forest have been in terrific form since Steve Cooper took over and a third successive win would move them to within one point of the play-off places.

Image source, Rex Features

Mark Warburton’s QPR are enjoying an unbeaten start to the new year. They go into tonight’s fixture against Swansea as one of the league’s in-form squads and on a four-match winning run that’s moved them up to fourth and five points from the automatic promotion spots.

A fifth win on the trot would take them above Bournemouth into third, and leave them two points behind second-placed Blackburn with a game in hand still to play over Rovers.

Swansea, meanwhile, bounced back from a poor run of results to secure their first win in five against Preston, also their first clean sheet in five games.

Russell Martin’s side are 17th but with up to three games in hand on some of the clubs around them, that could quickly change.

Midfielder Jamie Paterson – who’s scored eight goals so far – is missing again after telling the club he’s not in the “right frame of mind” to play, weeks after his contract was extended.

Image source, Rex Features

We've got a little bit of everything for you this evening.

Five games from the Championship, four from League One, four from League Two and the quarter-finals of the Papa John's Trophy.

The second tier's top three aren't in action so it's a chance for some of the chasing pack to put the pressure on or just boost their top six chances.

Let's get to it.