EFL Weekend: Derbies, Scars and Second Chances
The league table matters this weekend. Just not as much as the grudges.
Across the English Football League, old wounds, academic rivalries and personal histories collide in a set of fixtures that feel far bigger than their early-season billing.
Burnley v Derby County – early-season anxiety at Turf Moor
On paper, it is a meeting of underachievers: a relegated club against a side that fell agonisingly short of the play-offs on the final day last season.
On the pitch, it already feels like a stress test.
Burnley sit bottom, still hunting their first win. Derby County have only four points from seven games and are stuck in a three-match losing run. No one inside either camp will publicly talk about relegation battles in September, but the warning lights are flashing.
Saturday’s game at Turf Moor (15:00 BST) carries a weight it really shouldn’t this early.
Derby’s situation darkened further with the news that Sweden international goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom has been ruled out with a knee problem. The timing could hardly be worse.
“The defensive aspect for Derby at the moment is under scrutiny, we are conceding goals, and to lose your first-choice goalkeeper is a big blow,” former Rams academy coach Darren Robinson told BBC Radio Derby.
Burnley need a first win. Derby need a halt to the slide. One of them may walk away feeling their season has just taken a serious turn for the worse.
Millwall v West Ham – scars from 2012, stakes at The Den
Some defeats never quite leave you.
For Millwall, 2012 still stings. West Ham went down to 10 men inside nine minutes the last time these two met, yet still found a way to win 2-1. That kind of derby loss lingers.
The Lions started this Championship campaign with a roar but their momentum has stalled. Across the capital, West Ham have done the opposite: a shaky return to the division has given way to a surge that has taken them to the top.
Now they collide at The Den on Saturday (12:30 BST), a ground that rarely does calm.
West Ham arrive chasing a fifth straight victory and the chance to plant a flag as early pacesetters. Millwall, bruised by recent results and that old memory from 2012, have the perfect opportunity to reset their season in one ferocious afternoon.
Wolves v West Brom – Black Country fire returns
On Sunday, Molineux gets something it has been missing: a Black Country derby.
Wolves and West Bromwich Albion have not met there since 2021, when Albion edged a 3-2 thriller. Ask Wolves fans which game hurts more, though, and many will go straight back to 2012 and that brutal 5-1 home defeat.
James Morrison was on the pitch that day, playing his part in Albion’s demolition job. Fourteen years on, he returns as Baggies boss, looking to twist the knife again from the dugout (Sunday, 12:00 BST).
Wolves want payback and a statement in front of their own fans. Albion want to relive old glories and remind their neighbours who has inflicted the deepest wounds in recent history.
The noise inside Molineux will tell you how much this still matters.
Cambridge v Oxford – from boat race to promotion race
Different cities, same rivalry.
Cambridge and Oxford usually measure themselves against each other in libraries and on the river. This season, their football clubs are threatening to turn an academic grudge into a promotion shootout.
Both Cambridge United and Oxford United have started impressively and both have their eyes fixed upwards.
Under Neil Harris, Cambridge have settled into League One with purpose: just one defeat in six games (W3 D2) and a sense of a side quickly finding its level. Across the divide, Aaron Ramsey’s Oxford have shrugged off a transfer embargo and the hangover of relegation disappointment to produce a similarly sharp opening: unbeaten in five (W3 D1).
Both sit in the play-off positions, separated by a single point. Their shared history as rival cities gives Saturday’s meeting (15:00 BST) an extra edge, but the sub-plot is clear: this is starting to look like a season where both can dream of going up.
Peterborough v Doncaster – McCann’s return and a reality check
Grant McCann has already fought a bigger battle than the one in front of him this weekend.
The Doncaster manager revealed he was diagnosed with skin cancer last year. He says he has recovered now, and that kind of news has a way of shrinking football’s usual dramas.
Even so, the table is harsh. Doncaster are bottom, without a win (D3 L3), and the pressure on the pitch is real.
Next up is Peterborough United away on Saturday (15:00 BST), a club McCann knows intimately as both player and manager. It is a familiar walk down the tunnel, but not a comfortable one.
Peterborough are only two points better off and hardly flying themselves. Both sides need a spark.
“A familiar ground against an opponent of similar form can sometimes bring stress, but it can also mean opportunity” could be the theme of McCann’s week, even if he chose calmer words.
“I'm not putting any extra on the pressure to the players, if anything I'm feeling a bit calmer,” he told BBC Radio Sheffield. “Nobody wants to be in position where we haven't won in six games but if we look at all the games, we've had really good opportunities to put the game away. “We haven't quite done that but we have to stay on top of what we believe in and it will certainly come.”
Peterborough know his methods. He knows every corner of their stadium. One of them will leave with that first jolt of relief.
Walsall v Port Vale – local tension, fragile momentum
The distance from Burslem to Walsall is short. The emotional gap between the clubs is not.
Port Vale’s promotion ahead of Walsall in a chaotic 2024-25 season still grates in these parts. Yet the Valiants find themselves back in League Two now, and struggling to get moving.
They sit just above the relegation line, their first win of the season only arriving last weekend against Exeter City. The task on Saturday (12:30 BST) is simple and brutal: back it up, or risk that victory feeling like a false dawn.
History offers mixed comfort. Vale won this exact fixture last time, but before that Walsall were unbeaten in seven against them, winning six. The Saddlers have made themselves a problem for their neighbours.
This season, they have not lost in the league and will be determined to keep that run intact, especially against a side they watched celebrate promotion not so long ago.
Derbies, old feuds, personal stories, promotion hopes, survival fears. For an early-season weekend, the EFL has rarely felt so loaded.
