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Ian Holloway picks his top-three highlights of the Championship

Ian Holloway his three Championship highlights of the season so far
Image: Ian Holloway picks his three Championship highlights of the season so far

This weekend signals the return of the Sky Bet Championship and Ian Holloway reveals his top-three achievers of the season so far.

We are already almost one quarter of the way through the Sky Bet Championship season. Despite only being 11 games in, it's been a season full of incidents, sackings and great games. 

Things are set to turn up another notch over the next two months with the busy Christmas period looming, and you can catch all the action across Sky Sports, starting this weekend with Bristol City v Cardiff (Friday), Aston Villa v Wolves (Saturday) and Huddersfield v Sheffield Wednesday (Sunday). 

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As always, Sky Sports Football League analyst Ian Holloway has been keeping a close eye on the action.

But which three stories have stood out from the rest? Ollie picks his top three..

3) Rafa has put the united back in Newcastle United 

Newcastle and Rafa Benitez have achieved a very difficult thing this season: removing the disappointment and losing mentality from the club. What a man Benitez is. I was very, very impressed with him when I met him. 

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Vernon Anita of Newcastle celebrates his goal
Image: Newcastle players are playing for the shirt again, says Ollie

Despite his background at some of the world's biggest clubs, he's so humble and has taken on the job because of the supporters not for the money. How refreshing is that.

That philosophy is definitely coming through on his players. They look like a team that are enjoying the challenge the Championship brings. The rest of the division needs to watch out as this team could go on a huge winning run at any stage of the season. If Benitez didn't decide to stay then a blame culture would have started to develop within the fan base.

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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Newcastle United and Norwich City

But all the blame from them is seemingly pointed at Steve McClaren rather than Benitez, which is helping the atmosphere. That is an easy cop out though, to blame the previous manager.

In my opinion the blame lies solely with the players that took the club down - some of them failed to show up last season. The bad habits of last season are behind them now. A swift return to the Premier League looks on the cards.

2) Tammy Abraham has the world at his feet

HIGH WYCOMBE, ENGLAND - AUGUST 08: Tammy Abraham of Bristol City celebrates after scoring to make it 0-1 during the EFL Cup match between Wycombe Wanderers
Image: Tammy Abraham of Bristol City celebrates

What an outstanding talent. The young lad has scored 13 goals in 15 games for club and country. 

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Everything you'd want in a modern day striker, he's got it. He's quick, strong and prolific, much like Marcus Rashford at Manchester United. It's great we're getting the opportunity to see his talent first-hand in the Championship. Fair play to Bristol City for taking him. It's also great news he doesn't have a recall in his loan contract.

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Highlights of Bristol City's 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest from the Sky Bet Championship

It does upset me that he belongs to Chelsea. I don't think they utilise and develop most of their prospects. They didn't even use Romelu Lukaku for goodness sake - it doesn't make sense.

City need to make the most of this fantastic player they have on their hands, and they are.

Everything you'd want in a modern day striker, he's got it. He's quick, strong and prolific, much like Marcus Rashford at Manchester United
Ollie on Abraham

1) Huddersfield and David Wagner are a special combination 

David Wagner has been a breath of fresh air to the Championship. They have been the surprise package this season. Some numpties had them down for relegation at the start of the season!

Huddersfield boss David Wagner has accepted a misconduct charge from the FA
Image: Huddersfield boss David Wagner has impressed Ollie

The beauty of the way Huddersfield play is how quickly they get bodies forward into dangerous areas. Even if the attack breaks down they are still on the front-foot as they then press from there with great enthusiasm. It's very much the modern way of playing and plenty of teams are having huge success from this style of football. Tottenham and Liverpool to name just a few.

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It's not just the style of play, it's the way Wagner has got everyone at the club pulling in the right direction. I love his passion and the way the whole squad celebrates goals.

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Highlights of Huddersfield's 1-0 win over Ipswich in the Sky Bet Championship

Huge credit also has to go to the chairman Dean Hoyle for taking a chance on an inexperienced manager. It doesn't always end well when you promote someone from youth and reserve team football management to the seniors as there are much more day-to-day problems to deal with, however, this has been an inspired appointment.

I hope their success continues.  

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