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Sports Mole's Championship Team of the Week

Sports Mole chooses its Championship Team of the Week for gameweek five, also highlighting the biggest numpty and best goal of the weekend.

The first month of the Championship season is done and dusted, and with the transfer window now also closed, managers can properly get their heads down and focus on the league.

Nottingham Forest held on to top spot and their unbeaten record by downing one of the other two unbeaten sides - Sheffield Wednesday - on Saturday lunchtime.

Charlton Athletic are the other side yet to suffer defeat and they were denied three points in the dying moments at Brighton & Hove Albion.

At the other end of the table, Blackpool are still without a point after defeat at Millwall, while Fulham earned their first point with a draw against Cardiff City. Bolton Wanderers are the other side still winless after losing at Leeds United.

Here, Sports Mole chooses its Team of the Week for gameweek five, as well as highlighting the weekend's biggest numpty and best goal.

Marco Silvestri (Leeds United)
Leeds, after sacking Dave Hockaday as manager, edged out Bolton at Elland Road and the main reason was the performance of Silvestri in goal. The Italian made a number of stops, including a brilliant double save late on, to preserve the points.

Simon Francis (Bournemouth)
The Cherries ended Norwich City's run of three straight victories by drawing 1-1 at Carrow Road, and it was Francis's clever run and pinpoint cross to Callum Wilson that led to the equaliser.
Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Brighton kept up their good run with a draw against unbeaten Charlton, and Dunk scored both goals with a pair of headers that found almost exactly the same spot in the top corner.
Michael Mancienne (Nottingham Forest)
Forest managed to keep out Wednesday at Hillsborough and Mancienne was the pick of their defenders, making a number of interceptions and clearances.
Andrew Taylor (Wigan Athletic)
The Latics easily dealt with Birmingham City, and Taylor scored his first goal since 2011 with an arrow-like hit across goal that went in off the post.

Alan Judge (Brentford)
Summer signing Judge was a driving force in midfield for the Bees as they snatched a win at Rotherham United. He set up Andre Gray for the opening goal with an incisive through-ball.
Almen Abdi (Watford)
Two goals for Abdi from midfield as the Hornets saw off Huddersfield Town despite going down to 10 men. Both goals were assured finishes from the midfielder.
Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough)
Although Boro were beaten by Reading, Leadbitter was a class act in the middle for the hosts. He made several key passes and should have been credited with an assist when his low cross somehow wasn't converted (see Numpty of the Week below).
Callum McManaman (Wigan Athletic)
Ahead of Taylor for Wigan was McManaman and he scored two lovely goals for the home side, who now look much more in the mood after a slow start to the campaign.

Igor Vetokele (Charlton Athletic)
Charlton's unbeaten start has been one of the bigger surprises so far and Vetokele has been on fire in attack. He now has five goals to his name after a well-taken brace against Brighton and is joint-top of the scoring charts with Norwich's Lewis Grabban.
Nouha Dicko (Woverhampton Wanderers)
Wolves have won four of their opening five games, and Dicko opened his account for the season in the 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers. The frontman also set up Bakary Sako for his second goal of the afternoon.

Numpty of the Week

Kike: After making a promising start to his Middlesbrough career, the summer signing fluffed his lines against Reading with a point-blank miss from Leadbitter's perfect cross that would have earned Boro a point.

Goal of the Week

Callum McManaman (Wigan Athletic) vs. Birmingham City: All of Wigan's four goals were easy on the eye, but McManaman's second was the pick of the bunch. After turning the Birmingham defence inside-out, he curled delightfully into the far corner.

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Lewis Dunk of Brighton during the pre season friendly match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Norwich City at The Amex Stadium on July 30, 2013
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd1610422191232
2Sunderland1594225111431
3Burnley168621961330
4Leeds UnitedLeeds158522491529
5Middlesbrough1683529191027
6West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom166821811726
7Watford168262524126
8Millwall156541813523
9Blackburn RoversBlackburn156451917222
10Bristol City165742020022
11Derby CountyDerby165562020020
12Stoke CityStoke165561920-120
13Norwich CityNorwich164752524119
14Swansea CitySwansea155461110119
15Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds165471826-819
16Luton TownLuton165381826-818
17Coventry CityCoventry164572223-117
18Oxford UnitedOxford Utd164571924-517
19Plymouth ArgylePlymouth164571728-1117
20Preston North EndPreston163761624-816
21Cardiff CityCardiff164481524-916
22Hull City163671621-515
23Portsmouth152671628-1212
24Queens Park RangersQPR161871326-1311


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