The weekend started with Southampton ahead of West Ham on goal difference but the Hammers knew they would go top on Saturday night provided they avoided defeat in their home game against struggling Nottingham Forest with Southampton sat waiting until Monday night to play their fixture at home to Leicester.
It didn't look too difficult a game for West Ham against a Forest side that had been wiped away by Leicester in the FA Cup days earlier amidst reported problems in the dressing room at half time when their players didn't take too kindly to criticism from Steve Cotterill.
They are not quite the league's crisis club just now but they are running Portsmouth, of whom there will be more shortly, a close second.
The game went as expected but it took two penalties from Mark Noble to win the points for West Ham and the three point lead it gave them is still intact as Leicester, who are seemingly all set to buy up another set of players, went to St. Mary's and won 2-0.
It leaves Southampton only one point ahead of Carling Cup finalists Cardiff. They beat the crisis club Pompey 3-2 on Saturday. League table wise, Portsmouth are reasonably comfortable. They are in 17th place but a safe seven points clear of the relegation positions.
However, the latest owner, and they change owners more often than most other clubs play games, has scarpered, Andrew Andronikou the administrator is back and they've just been served with the latest winding up order by HMRC.
This saga seems to have been running longer than Eastenders and just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, former chairman and manager Milan Mandaric and Harry Redknapp turn up at court on tax evasion charges.
Meanwhile, the more honest clubs in the league continue to battle it out for points. Birmingham, the only team unbeaten at home, moved into the bottom six along with Cardiff, Middlesbrough (who have now lost their last three games) and Hull.
Down at the bottom it is still, working up from the bottom, Coventry, Doncaster and Nottingham Forest.
And we're down to 12th again which is incredible given we've just picked up four points from our last two games. I'd have thought that would have brought about a climb in the table not a two place drop.
Still, we're now 16 points from the bottom three and only two points from the play offs. We've also got 40 points which is only 10 short of the point where Stan Ternent said it was time to crack on and see where it took us.
The results from the weekend are below along with the stats, the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record, the highest and lowest attendances and the next fixtures.
The Week's Results Saturday 21st January Barnsley 1 Millwall 3 Coventry City 3 Middlesbrough 1 Birmingham City 3 Watford 0 Leeds United 3 Ipswich Town 1 Blackpool 2 Crystal Palace 1 Peterborough United 1 Brighton & HA 2 Bristol City 2 Doncaster Rovers 1 Reading 0 Hull City 1 Burnley 0 Derby County 0 West Ham United 2 Nottingham Forest 1 Cardiff City 3 Portsmouth 2 Monday 23rd January Southampton 0 Leicester City 2The Week's Stats Biggest Win Birmingham City 3-0 v Watford (home) Total Goals Scored 35 (20 home - 15 away)
Player Scoring Most Goals
3 - Darius Henderson (Millwall) Highest Attendance 31,718 - West Ham United v Nottingham Forest Lowest Attendance 9,185 - Barnsley v Millwall Total Yellow Cards 30 Total Red Cards 4 Most Cards in a Game Coventry City v Middlesbrough (5Y 2R) Ref: Gary SuttonLeading Goalscorers (League Only) 15 Rickie Lambert (Southampton) - includes 5 penalties 12 Darius Henderson (Millwall) - includes 2 penaltiesRoss McCormack (Leeds United) 10 Guly Do Prado (Southampton)Billy Sharp (Doncaster Rovers) - includes 1 penaltyRobert Snodgrass (Leeds Uniited)Ricardo Vaz Te (Barnsley)Chris Wood (Bristol City) - (9 with Birmingham City) 9 Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town)Charlie Austin (Burnley)Craig Davies (Barnsley) - includes 1 penaltyMatty Fryatt (Hull City) - includes 1 penaltyLukas Jutkiewicz (Middlesbrough) - includes 1 penalty - (9 with Coventry City)Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 2 penaltiesKenny Miller (Cardiff City) 8 Carlton Cole (West Ham United)Robert Koren (Hull City)Nicky Maynard (Bristol City)Grant McCann (Peterborough United) - includes 2 penaltiesScott McDonald (Middlesbrough)David Nugent (Leicester City)Jay Rodriguez (Burnley) - includes 1 penaltyMarvin Sordell (Watford) - includes 2 penalties
Hat Tricks Date Player & Game 20/08/11 3: Lee Tomlin - PETERBOROUGH UNITED v Ipswich Town 10/09/11 3: Rickie Lambert - SOUTHAMPTON v Nottingham Forest 11/09/11 3: Chris Wood - BIRMINGHAM CITY v Millwall 12/10/11 3: Darius Henderson - Leicester City v MILLWALL 02/11/11 3: Jonjo Shelvey - Leeds United v BLACKPOOL 19/11/11 3: Rickie Lambert - SOUTHAMPTON v Brighton & Hove Albion 26/12/11 3: Matthew Phillips - Barnsley v BLACKPOOL 31/12/11 3: Ricardo Vaz Te - BARNSLEY v Leeds United 21/01/12 3: Darius Henderson - Barnsley v MILLWALL
Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R League Total League Total Barnsley 36 1 39 1 Ipswich Town 33 4 34 4 Birmingham City 35 1 37 1 Leeds United 40 5 46 5 Blackpool 35 1 36 2 Leicester City 39 5 45 5 Brighton and Hove Albion 62 5 74 5 Middlesbrough 46 4 47 4 Bristol City 41 1 43 1 Millwall 43 2 48 2 Burnley 40 2 48 2 Nottingham Forest 37 3 42 3 Cardiff City 34 0 48 0 Peterborough United 34 2 37 2 Coventry City 31 2 33 2 Portsmouth 45 3 52 3 Crystal Palace 36 1 40 2 Reading 39 0 42 0 Derby County 37 1 37 1 Southampton 33 3 34 3 Doncaster Rovers 43 2 45 2 Watford 35 1 36 1 Hull City 46 1 47 1 West Ham United 43 3 46 4
Highest and Lowest Attendances Highest Lowest Att Fixture Att Fixture 34,936 West Ham United v Coventry City (02/01) 6,351 Peterborough United v Cardiff City (18/10) 34,749 West Ham United v Barnsley (17/12) 7,650 Doncaster Rovers v Watford (26/11) 33,465 West Ham United v Portsmouth (10/09) 7,778 Doncaster Rovers v Bristol City (27/08) 33,010 Derby County v Southampton (15/10) 7,901 Peterborough United v Burnley (17/09) 33,010 Derby County v Leeds United (26/12) 7,928 Peterborough United v Ipswich Town (20/08) 32,150 Southampton v West Ham United (18/10) 8,062 Peterborough United v Coventry City (17/12) 31,812 Southampton v Brighton & Hove Albion (19/11) 8,320 Peterborough United v Barnsley (03/12) 31,718 West Ham United v Nottingham Forest (21/01) 8,426 Doncaster Rovers v Coventry City (29/10) 31,524 Southampton v Crystal Palace (26/12) 8,500 Peterborough Utd v Doncaster Rovers (01/10) 31,448 West Ham United v Blackpool (15/10) 8,685 Peterborough United v Hull City (10/09)
The Next Fixtures Saturday 28th January Peterborough United v Portsmouth Reading v Bristol City Tuesday 31st January Barnsley v Derby County Leeds United v Birmingham City Blackpool v Coventry City Millwall v Watford Crystal Palace v Brighton & Hove Albion Nottingham Forest v Burnley Hull City v Doncaster Rovers Southampton v Cardiff City Ipswich Town v West Ham United Wednesday 1st February Leicester City v Middlesbrough
Source: FOOTYMAD
