Championship round-up: Hat-trick hero takes star man award

Sacking Steve Bruce did not have the desired effect for Aston Villa at the weekend, as the Championship giants slipped to a 2-1 defeat away to Millwall. The same cannot be said for their city rivals, Birmingham, who extended their unbeaten run to eight matches with a 3-1 win over Rotherham on Saturday.

Birmingham have equalled Leeds’ run of eight matches without defeat in the Championship this season, courtesy of a Lukas Jutkiewicz hat-trick against the Millers. The 29-year-old doubled his tally for the season in the process.

Jutkiewicz netted with all three of his attempts on goal and the Birmingham frontman also won 17 aerial duels for Garry Monk’s side. The 29-year-old earned a perfect WhoScored 10 rating in the process, becoming the first Championship player to do so this season.

Nottingham Forest are now six league matches unbeaten after impressively beating Middlesbrough 2-0 away from home. Forest climbed into the play-off positions as a result, with midfielder Joe Lolley playing a decisive part in their win.

The 26-year-old opened the scoring just after half-time before setting up Lewis Grabban with 13 minutes of normal time remaining to secure all three points for former Boro boss Aitor Karanka. Lolley had five attempts on goal, completed five dribbles and also created two more goalscoring opportunities.

Lolley secured a WhoScored rating of 9.56 in the process, finishing gameweek 12 as the second highest rated player in the Championship. Rounding off the top three is Leeds centre-back Pontus Jansson (8.81).

The Sweden international scored a late equaliser for Leeds, as Marcelo Bielsa’s side were held 1-1 at home to Brentford on Saturday. Jansson won seven aerial duels and made 11 tackles and interceptions combined, while also completing six clearances.

While the aforementioned trio flourished this weekend, the same cannot be said for Wigan goalkeeper Christian Walton. The 22-year-old failed to make a single save in Wigan’s 4-0 defeat to Preston and was to blame for the opener, recording an error that led to goal. Walton garnered a WhoScored rating of 3.98, finishing the week as the lowest rated player in the Championship.