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Sports Mole's Championship Team of the Week

Sports Mole selects its team of the week in the Championship, as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and the best goal from Gameweek 16.

Gameweek 16 in the Championship gave us just 21 goals and a pair of red cards on Friday and Saturday.

There is now a three-way lead at the top after Burnley drew their third consecutive game at Nottingham Forest, while Leicester City and Queens Park Rangers saw off Ipswich Town and Charlton Athletic respectively.

At the bottom, Yeovil Town continue to prop up the rest but will feel some relief at the fact that other strugglers Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley also fell to losses against Huddersfield Town and Millwall respectively.

Here, Sports Mole picks out its best XI of the weekend as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and best goal.

Alex McCarthy (Reading)
A second week in a row in the keeper's spot for McCarthy after another save-heavy performance against Blackburn Rovers. It ended goalless at Ewood Park, with Reading now winless in four.

Bruno Saltor (Brighton)
The Seagulls right-back put in an all-action performance as Oscar Garcia's side picked up an unlikely away victory at Wigan Athletic.
Jamaal Lascelles (Forest)
The Forest centre-back kept the division's hottest strike duo in Sam Vokes and Danny Ings relatively quiet at the City Ground, with Vokes only finding the net from the penalty spot.
Alex Pearce (Reading)
Pearce was dominant in the air at both ends of the pitch while also shutting down the ever-dangerous Jordan Rhodes.
Tyler Blackett (Blackpool)
Manchester United teenage loanee Blackett made two goal-line clearances as the Tangerines drew 1-1 with Birmingham.

Tom Cairney (Blackburn)
Cairney looked assured on the ball all afternoon against Reading, making an impressive 88% of his passes in a slightly unfavoured role on the wing.
Adam Clayton (Huddersfield)
Clayton kept his head over a difficult bouncing ball to put the Terriers 2-0 ahead and out of reach against Yorkshire rivals Wednesday.
Nicky Bailey (Millwall)
A snappy performance from Bailey as Millwall arrested a slide of six games without a win against Barnsley.
Mark Duffy (Doncaster)
Duffy's free kick provided the unlikely winner for Donny after they had gone down to 10 men in the final moments against Yeovil.

Jamie Ward (Derby)
Ward made it five goals in seven games with the match-winner against Bournemouth as Derby's solid away form continued.
David Nugent (Leicester)
The Foxes' top scorer loves playing against Ipswich and made it 13 in 12 appearances against the Tractor Boys with a match-winning brace in Suffolk.

Numpty of the Week

Manuel Almunia: A second time this season that former Arsenal stopper Almunia has been our Championship numpty. The Spaniard earns the unfortunate accolade this time around because of his butter fingers that allowed Bolton's Jermaine Beckford to poke the ball in for the winner at Vicarage Road.

Goal of the Week

Charlie Austin (QPR) vs. Charlton: Known for his right-place-right-time prowess, Austin showed that he is not all about the poaching with a crisp 25-yard drive that flew into the corner as Rangers eked out another narrow victory while keeping their 10th clean sheet of the season.

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Written by
Pascal Lemesre
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A general view of Blackburn Rovers' stadium Ewood Park on October 30, 2010
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Birmingham CityBirmingham23165241172453
2Wycombe WanderersWycombe25156450272351
3Wrexham25156437181951
4Huddersfield TownHuddersfield24145537191847
5Barnsley2512673933642
6Reading2412573933641
7Stockport CountyStockport25108737271038
8Leyton Orient24114932221037
9Mansfield TownMansfield2311483126537
10Bolton WanderersBolton2411493637-137
11Charlton AthleticCharlton239772721634
12Lincoln CityLincoln258892830-232
13Rotherham UnitedRotherham248792424031
14Stevenage238781820-231
15Exeter CityExeter2494112831-331
16Blackpool247983235-330
17Wigan AthleticWigan2376102123-227
18Northampton TownNorthampton2568112439-1526
19Peterborough UnitedPeterborough2474134146-525
20Bristol Rovers2474132238-1625
21Crawley TownCrawley2355132443-1920
22Shrewsbury TownShrewsbury2445152444-2017
23Cambridge UnitedCambridge2445152243-2117
24Burton Albion2428142038-1814


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