The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham news and links for Monday, February 28

Welcome to a new and recurring hoddle feature: your monthly EFL Championship roundup.

England’s second tier is great fun to watch, and it isn’t an uncommon occurrence for me to watch Luton Town take on West Brom instead of your run-of-the-mill top-tier scrap.

The parity within the league make it a compelling competition to watch, as all it takes is a quick run of games to be propelled into playoff contention. Just take a look at Luton Town, for example. The club picked up impressive wins over Stoke City, freefalling West Brom and a cratered Derby County side. Three wins on the bounce brings them to sixth just a couple of seasons apart from barely surviving relegation.

But the story of the season is still Marco Silva’s Fulham Football Club. The tossed-out Toffees manager delivered four wins out of five this month, and while their scoring isn’t quite as prolific as earlier this season, the club looks destined for a return to the promised land. Alexander Mitrovic, the league’s leading scorer, is 14 points clear of Blackburn Rovers’ Ben Brereton Diaz

Blackburn with be without their top striker for an unspecified period of time after he suffered a ruptured ankle ligament. That’s a big problem. The club went more than 430 minutes this month before Reda Khadra scored the winner in a crucial 1-0 against QPR.

The bottom half of the table looks much clearer than the top, with Barnsley, Derby and Peterborough all barrellings towards relegation. The relegation battle appears to be near-complete, with Barnsley and Reading likely to battle it out for survival these next few months.

EFL Championship top seven:

1. Fulham (70 points, 33 Games Played)
2. Bournemouth (61 points, 31 GP)
3. Huddersfield (59 points, 35 GP)
4. Blackburn Rovers (57 points, 34 GP)
5. QPR (56 points, 34 GP)
6. Luton Town (54 points, 33 GP)
7. Sheffield United (53 points, 33 GP)

EFL Championship bottom four:

21. Reading (29 points, 34 GP)

22. Barnsley (23 points, 33 GP)

23. Derby County (21 points, 34 GP)

24. Posh (21 points, 35 GP)

Manager movements

West Brom: Valerien Ismael out (sacked), Steve Bruce in

Reading: Veljko Paunović out (mutual consen), caretakers in

Posh: Darren Ferguson out (resigned), Grant McCann in

Fitzie’s track of the day: Animal Nitrate, by Suede

And now for your links:

Charlie E ($$): Dejan Kulusevski’s versatility his greatest strength at Tottenham

England FA confirms the country will not play against Russia in any international fixtures

Fifa faces backlash for refusing to expel Russia from international football as multiple countries confirm they won’t play against Russia

Chelsea trustees have yet to agree to Roman Abramovich’s request to transfer ‘stewardship’

Footballers and fans show support for Ukraine

Leeds United reportedly targeting Jesse Marsch to replace Marcelo Bielsa as manager

Liverpool win Carabao Cup after beating Chelsea in penalty shootout