I don't think Palace were a club many thought would be up there when the season started and I don't think there were too many surprised when they lost their first three games against Watford, Middlesbrough and Bristol City.
There was speculation that manager Dougie Freedman was under pressure but then things changed round. In fourteen games since they've not been beaten, winning eleven and drawing three, and they now proudly sit on top of the table.
The run has seen the departure of Selhurst Park legend Freedman. Instead of the poor results landing him the sack, the good results landed himself the job at Bolton who were looking to replace one of their legends.
He's gone, they've had two caretaker managers and now Ian Holloway, who got out of Blackpool, and nothing's changed. It has at Blackpool though, certainly according to long serving defender Ian Evatt who has just about said that Holloway had given up at Bloomfield Road.
Evatt has said today: "In the last couple of months, we hadn't really done much training. We had numerous days off, anything from two to five or six at a time. It was as surprising to the lads as anyone else.
"We are an honest bunch of players and we want to work hard, but at times we weren't doing that. Maybe that's why we had the bad spell that we had. We've knuckled down now. Training has been fantastic in the last ten days or so. It's been hard work but we've needed it."
No matter what, Holloway was the only one of the recent bunch of new Championship managers to secure a win on Saturday. Bolton, Blackpool under Michael Appleton both drew while us and Ipswich were beaten.
Ipswich are doing well away from home. That's 11 goals they've conceded in the two away games since Mick McCarthy took over. The man hasn't been impressed and after the six goal mauling at Ipswich he said: "It was an embarrassing display. Awful to be honest. It hurts me. I pride my teams on being tough and hard to beat, well organised and with the ability to play. but you have to sort the first part of that out first.
"We are milky. We are brittle. But there is nothing I can do about that performance now. We will take the bones out of it and move forward to what is obviously a very important game against Peterborough next week."
Ipswich are currently third from bottom, ahead of just Bristol City and Peterborough, and by only one point. Sheffield Wednesday and then Barnsley are the two clubs hovering closest to the bottom three.
Up at the top, Cardiff beat Middlesbrough to take their automatic promotion position while Huddersfield lost their place in the top six, replaced by Blackburn for whom former Huddersfield striker Jordan Rhodes bagged a hat trick.
We've a free week now ahead of a full fixture list on Saturday. Those fixtures are below along with the weekend results and stats, the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record and the highest and lowest attendances.
The Results Saturday 17th November Birmingham City 2 Hull City 3 Huddersfield Town 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Bolton Wanderers 1 Barnsley 1 Leicester City 6 Ipswich Town 0 Bristol City 1 Blackpool 1 Nottingham Forest 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0 Burnley 0 Charlton Athletic 1 Peterborough United 1 Blackburn Rovers 4 Cardiff City 1 Middlesbrough 0 Watford 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Crystal Palace 3 Derby County 0 Sunday 18th November Millwall 1 Leeds United 0The Stats Biggest Win Leicester City 6-0 v Ipswich Town (home) Total Goals Scored 33 (20 home - 13 away) Player Scoring Most Goals 3 - Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn Rovers) Highest Attendance 24,584 - Nottingham Forest v Sheffield Wednesday Lowest Attendance 5,997 - Peterborough United v Blackburn Rovers Total Yellow Cards 33 Total Red Cards 3 Most Cards in a Game Millwall v Leeds United (5Y 1R) Ref: Mark Halsey
Leading Goalscorers (League Only) 17 Charlie Austin (Burnley) - includes 2 penalties 15 Glenn Murray (Crystal Palace) - includes 6 penalties 11 Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn Rovers) - 2 with Huddersfield Town 10 Tom Ince (Blackpool) - includes 2 penalties 9 Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 2 penaltiesCraig Mackail-Smith (Brighton & Hove Albion) - includes 2 penaltiesDavid Nugent (Leicester City) - includes 1 penalty 8 Sone Aluko (Hull City)Luciano Becchio (Leeds United) - includes 3 penaltiesCraig Davies (Barnsley) - includes 1 penalty 7 Steven Davies (Bristol City) - includes 2 penaltiesDarius Henderson (Millwall)Matej Vydra (Watford) - includes 1 penaltyPete Whittingham (Cardiff City) - includes 3 penaltiesChris Wood (Millwall) 6 Chris Eagles (Bolton Wanderers)Heidar Helguson (Cardiff City)Theo Robinson (Derby County) - includes 1 penaltyBakary Sako (Wolverhampton Wanderers)Liam Trotter (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty
Hat Tricks Date Player & Game 01/09/12 3: Pete Whittingham - CARDIFF CITY v Wolverhampton Wanderers 15/09/12 3: Charlie Austin - BURNLEY v Peterborough United 22/09/12 3: Glenn Murray - CRYSTAL PALACE v Cardiff City 22/09/12 4: Craig Davies - Birmingham City v BARNSLEY 23/09/12 3: David Nugent - LEICESTER CITY v Hull City 29/09/12 3: Emile Sinclair - Hull City v PETERBOROUGH UNITED 02/10/12 3: Charlie Austin - BURNLEY v Sheffield Wednesday 23/10/12 3: Marlon King - Millwall v BIRMINGHAM CITY 06/11/12 3: Glenn Murray - CRYSTAL PALACE v Ipswich Town 17/11/12 3: Jordan Rhodes - Peterborough United v BLACKBURN ROVERS
Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R League Total League Total Barnsley 22 1 25 2 Huddersfield Town 30 2 31 2 Birmingham City 19 2 21 2 Hull City 13 0 13 1 Blackburn Rovers 20 0 20 0 Ipswich Town 24 0 24 0 Blackpool 21 0 21 0 Leeds United 34 2 39 2 Bolton Wanderers 33 1 35 1 Leicester City 17 1 17 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 23 0 24 0 Middlesbrough 23 0 26 0 Bristol City 23 0 25 0 Millwall 32 1 34 1 Burnley 28 1 34 1 Nottingham Forest 29 3 29 3 Cardiff City 25 0 27 0 Peterborough United 32 0 33 0 Charlton Athletic 26 0 26 0 Sheffield Wednesday 29 1 32 1 Crystal Palace 22 1 26 1 Watford 33 4 34 4 Derby County 17 1 18 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 17 2 19 2
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Highest and Lowest Attendances Highest Lowest Att Fixture Att Fixture 28,707 Nottingham Forest v Derby County (30/09) 5,435 Peterborough United v Bristol City (18/09) 28,582 Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United (19/10) 5,997 Peterborough Utd v Blackburn Rovers (17/11) 28,229 Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday (09/11) 6,188 Peterborough United v Millwall (21/08) 27,437 Derby County v Sheffield Wednesday (18/08) 6,348 Peterborough Utd v Huddersfield Town(23/10) 26,598 Sheffield Wed v Bolton Wanderers (22/09) 8,088 Barnsley v Bristol City (01/09) 26,594 Brighton & HA v Sheffield Weds (14/09) 8,195 Barnsley v Crystal Palace (23/10) 26,402 Brighton & Hove Albion v Leeds United (02/11) 8,319 Barnsley v Peterborough United (02/10) 26,293 Brighton & HA v Middlesbrough (20/10) 8,427 Peterborough Utd v Derby County (29/10) 26,185 Charlton Athletic v Barnsley (20/10) 8,571 Barnsley v Ipswich Town (29/09) 26,121 Brighton & HA v Birmingham City (29/09) 9,258 Millwall v Birmingham City (23/10)The Next Fixtures Saturday 24th November Barnsley v Cardiff City Hull City v Burnley Blackburn Rovers v Millwall Ipswich Town v Peterborough United Blackpool v Watford Leeds United v Crystal Palace Brighton & Hove Albion v Bolton Wanderers Middlesbrough v Bristol City Charlton Athletic v Huddersfield Town Sheffield Wednesday v Leicester City Derby County v Birmingham City (17:20) Wolverhampton Wanderers v Nottingham Forest
Source: Clarets Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
