Sheffield Wednesday meet Leeds live on Sky Sports Football and Main Event on Friday night from 7pm
Friday 28 September 2018 18:39, UK
Will Leeds bounce back? Will Sheffield Wednesday climb above their rivals? We take a look at some of the key questions ahead of Friday night's Sky Live clash.
You could almost hear the sound of accumulator slips being torn up around the country when Che Adams scored Birmingham's second goal at Leeds last week.
What seemed like a home banker on paper turned into a first Sky Bet Championship defeat for Marcelo Bielsa's side, who admitted it was his own fault after the game.
"It's not a responsibility of the players," he said. "It's a decision I took, and a wrong decision. The reality of the game indicated to me I did not take the right decision."
Leeds were the last unbeaten side left in the division before then and are top of the table heading into the weekend, so it is not exactly time to ring the crisis klaxons.
But they have just one win in their last five games in all competitions and could certainly do with a bit of course correction at Hillsborough.
A lack of signings over the summer meant that Jos Luhukay was only left with the option of improving the players he had at his disposal. The Dutchman has done just that so far, and no player has benefited more from his arrival than Barry Bannan.
Bannan has completed more passes, more successful passes and had more touches than any other player in the second tier this season. He has scored twice so far as well, which is already one more goal than he has managed in the last two Championship seasons combined.
Another player who looks somewhat revitalised is Steven Fletcher, who scored his second in as many games last week by grabbing the winner at Aston Villa.
It remains to be seen whether Luhukay will stick with the winning side or bring Fernando Forestieri back into the fold following his return from suspension. The Italian is unpredictable and a bit of a wildcard but is undoubtedly a match winner on his day.
It would be unfair to suggest that Tyler Roberts is not the answer for Leeds after one defeat, especially considering that he scored twice in a 3-0 win just a few days before.
But the fact remains that Leeds are starting to suffer from injuries, particularly Kemar Roofe and Pablo Hernandez and also Patrick Bamford.
Bielsa's side appear to have lost a little of their cutting edge since the injuries to Roofe and Hernandez, who both started the season like a house on fire, and were well contained by Birmingham, something that would seem unthinkable to anyone who watched them tear apart Stoke, Derby or Norwich in August.
Roofe looks likely to miss out again as Leeds travel to Sheffield Wednesday, and Bielsa will need to use all his experience, of which he has plenty, to find a way to win without him.
There could be one moment of minor significance if Sheffield Wednesday manage to win on Friday night.
Three points would put the Owls above bitter cross-town rivals Sheffield United in the table for the first time of note since the Blades were promoted back to the Championship last season. United were briefly behind Wednesday in early August but only while both still had zero points in the opening week.
The table is so tight right now that a victory for Luhukay's side would lift them from 10th to fourth, and it would be a hugely important moment for a side who have suffered a dismal 12 months in comparison with the Blades, even if they reclaim that spot a day later by picking up points at Millwall.
There is still a little way to go until the first Steel City derby in November, but to have both clubs performing well and jousting for a top-six spot would be great for Sheffield and the Championship as a whole.
