The 2023/24 EFL Championship campaign is approaching its quarter-mark stage. Football in English football's second tier is currently on pause for the international break, and at this point we're at 11 games, which is more or less the quarter-stage of a 46-game league season.
At the time of the second international break of the season, Preston are third, which not many outside of the club will have predicted. Two of the relegated sides Leeds United and Southampton haven't had it all their own way, and both find themselves beneath the Lilywhites.
Preston have a series of teams below them, and both Sunderland and Leeds United are just two points off. Birmingham City meanwhile who sacked John Eustace and replaced him with Wayne Rooney occupy the final play-of spot.
Norwich City, Cardiff City, Hull City and Southampton meanwhile are only three points behind Preston, and a positive result for those sides in their next match, and a defeat for Preston could see the table change.
Football is a team game but the Championship has some brilliant individual players, who are all vying to get that spotlight that will earn them a move to the Premier League, or another top-flight division.
In Preston's case, no players have stood out massively when it comes to statistics, and instead the goals have been shared. As a result, there’s no place for any of their players in their Championship team of the season so far.
If you want to know, Liam Lindsay is Preston's best performing player so far this term, but his 7.06 rating with WhoScored has him behind Cardiff City's Dimitrios Goutas and Leicester City's Jannick Vestergaard.
Flick through to see the Championship team of the season so far - which doesn’t include any Lilywhites players despite their position. Are you surprised by this, or do you think this is fair?
