Adam Cottier
BBC Final Score commentator at Deepdale

It’s a long time since Wolves won an away league game - 489 days in fact, since a 1-0 victory at Manchester United in the Premier League.

Close on 6,000 of their fans are here at Deepdale to see if they can end that wretched run - and they are resplendent in gold to my left here in the Billy Shankly Kop End.

There’s a new pitch here at the home of a team who have also found regular wins hard to come by in recent times. Both sets of fans could do with some early-season jubilation here.

Cardiff goalkeeper Nathan Trott is called into action very early as he gets down to deny Corey Blackett-Taylor.

Trott then saves from Oscar Fraulo before Bobby Clark's effort is cleared off the line.

Alan Kelly
Former Preston keeper on BBC Radio Lancashire

It is going to be a cat and mouse game because Wolves have got so many talented players. There is a great feel around the place today though, and the tempo has matched.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales at the Swansea.com Stadium

Zan Vipotnik was the Championship's 23-goal leading scorer last season, when he was very much Swansea's main man up front.

Vipotnik started on the opening day at Stoke last weekend but, after Adam Idah came off the bench to score Swansea's winner at the Bet365 Stadium, it is the Republic of Ireland international who gets the nod today.

With Vipotnik on the bench alongside new signing Ross Stewart, Swansea looked well stocked for centre-forwards.

But speculation about Vipotnik's future has been a story of the summer at Swansea, and it is a case of waiting to see whether the Slovenia player will still be part of Vitor Matos' squad come 2 September.

Three down, eight to go.

We are back at it in the Championship.

Laura Kenyon
BBC Final Score reporter at Swansea.com stadium

Swansea fans have come accustomed to slow starts in the league over recent years but have good cause for optimism today.

An impressive win away against Stoke in the opening game; the 2-1 scoreline perhaps not quite reflecting the comfortable nature of that victory.

Lots arriving early to the ground, sunny dispositions in the south Wales sun. Will be even more cheerful if Swansea can start the season with two league wins - something they haven't done since 2018.

Swansea kicked off their league campaign with a 2-1 win at Stoke City last week and the mood is positive in south Wales.

They'll be happy to be back on home turf too, they've taken 30 points from Vitor Matos' 15 home league games in charge.

How Sheffield United would love some of that sort of positivity.

The Blades are potentially facing a 12-point deduction because of an unpaid debt owed to their former owners by their current ones.

Chris Wathan
BBC Sport Wales at the Racecourse Ground

A first game of the season at the Racecourse Ground for Wrexham - with the Hollywood owners in attendance for the visit of Watford.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac have been strolling around the pitch and taking in a look at the new Kop stand that is rising to the skies on the town centre side of the old ground. It won't be ready until the start of next season but it's very much a work in progress.

A bit like Phil Parkinson's side who fell short in their play-off bid on the final day last season but are still building. Transfer business is not done yet but one of the summer signings, former Preston captain Ben Whiteman, makes his first start. He replaces Matty James who drops to the bench after picking up a knock in Monday's 1-1 draw with Cardiff.

Two changes for Watford from that eye-catching opening win over Southampton, including a return for striker Luca Kjerrumgaard.

Another season, another new Watford boss - insert references to London buses and hot dinners here.

The question is, can Alessio Dionisi still be in charge by the time the Christmas decorations go up?

The early signs are promising, with last weekend's 2-1 win over Southampton raising a few eyebrows and pleasantly surprising most Hornets fans.

They will need reinforcements if they want to turn that promise into something more tangible, more so with the loss of left-back Marc Bola to injury.

"I don't want to talk about the transfer market. I respect the question but for me it's important to speak about my players and my team," said Dionisi this week.

Wrexham's numbers game is completely different, with Phil Parkinson having to decide who to leave out rather than include.

A last-ditch equaliser from Cardiff on Monday night deflated the Dragons' opening day balloon but they will be expected to at least be in the play-off conversation.

Parkinson's side registered the most shots on target in the Championship last week (seven) and hit the woodwork three times - Watford have been warned.

Marc Webber
BBC Final Score commentator at the Racecourse Ground

A new season means a new filming session for the Disney documentary at Wrexham.

Chairmen Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney make an early pitch inspection with board member Shaun Harvey ahead of their game with Watford.

Image source, Getty Images

Really intriguing game, this, between who sides who made a flying start to the Championship campaign last Saturday.

Nobody was quite sure what to expect of the Hoops this season but they came from behind to pick up an eye-catching 3-1 win at Portsmouth, with fit-again talisman Ilias Chair scoring twice, having featured just 15 times for QPR last season.

Bolton returned to the Championship after seven years with a 2-1 win over Preston in a Lancashire hot-pot and will seek to follow that up in the capital.

The Trotters won their last encounter at Loftus Road in March 2019 but that was their only win in eight against the Rs, who had taken 17 points from the previous seven. Games between these sides in West London have produced a winner 16 of the past 17 times.

The last time Bolton won back-to-back matches in the second tier to start a season was in 1977, a campaign which ended in promotion.

Steven Schumacher is facing Rangers for the third time as a manager, all with different clubs, drawing 0-0 with Plymouth and winning 1-0 with Stoke.

The last time Southampton fans saw their side play a competitive fixture at home they beat Middlesbrough in the play-off semi-final...

The past three months have been dominated by issues off-the-field for the Saints but it was still something of a surprise that they slipped to a 2-1 opening weekend reverse at Watford last Sunday.

The punishment for the club's spying, which of course also saw them removed from the play-off final, means they started the season on minus four points so they will be desperate to start moving things towards zero as soon as possible.

Stoke also started their campaign with a defeat, as they went down 2-1 at home to Swansea City.

The Potters have brought in striker George Hirst and full-back Ben Johnson from Ipswich Town this week, with the former coming in for a reported fee of £10m.

Dan George
BBC Sport England at St Mary's

Image source, BBC Sport

Good afternoon from a bright and sunny St Mary's Stadium.

We've just got the team news and there is no Taylor Harwood-Bellis in the Southampton squad with lots of speculation ongoing about his future.

The last we heard was that Aston Villa have had a bid worth £18m rejected by Saints for the centre-back.

He will sit today's game out.

John Bennett
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter at Ewood Park

There will be over 6,000 Middlesbrough fans here in the Bryan Douglas Darwen end, and they’re going to create an incredible atmosphere behind the goal, especially when the away side is attacking towards that stand.

It will also mean there’ll be an extra special welcome for Tony Mowbray. His first home game back as Blackburn boss is against the club where he’s a legend, having played for, captained and managed Middlesbrough.

Blackburn only won four home games last season but the all new Ewood Park pitch might help today. They’ve got a new surface for the first time in 35 years and it’s looking like a bowling green pre-match as the players warm-up.

Image source, Getty Images

It's set to be a Tony Mowbray love-in at Ewood Park as the returning Rovers boss welcomes former club Boro to town for Blackburn's home opener.

The Saltburn-born 62-year-old played nearly 350 league games for Boro over an 11-year stay and also managed the club he grew up supporting from 2010 until 2013.

Mowbray said: "They are probably the best footballing team in the division. It's a really tough game, I would have preferred a different opposition in the first home game."

Mowbray's side were denied an eye-catching win at Wolves in their opening game by a last-gasp equaliser and Boro boss Kim Hellberg said: "I think he's shown many times at different clubs that he's a brilliant coach."

Rovers have taken nine points from their past six games against Boro and a goalless draw here in March helped derail Boro's push for automatic promotion and was a fourth Rovers clean sheet in the past five encounters.

Boro left it late to see-off Lincoln at home on the opening day and are aiming to win their opening two matches for just the second time in 32 years.

Preston hit some flat notes on the opening day of the Championship season with their 2-1 defeat by Bolton but, with their new playing surface installed at Deepdale they will hope to be pitch perfect against Wolves this afternoon.

"Everything has progressed in football and we were the only team in the league not to have some sort of artificial stitch-pitch and its job is just to hold firmer when the weather turns and, instead of it ripping up and becoming bobbly it just stays flatter," Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"It's not about having grass on the pitch, it's about it being flat and level and holding firm and we've not had that."

The signings Leo Leroy from Basel and Ipswich Town's Harry Clarke for undisclosed fees will have boosted spirits in Lancashire but their first points of the season may be tough to find against a Wolves side gunning for an immediate return to the Premier League.

It took a last-minute penalty from Raul Jimenez to salvage a draw with Blackburn eight days ago since which Wolves have added midfielder Jordan James on loan from Rennes although defenders Kieran Trippier and Yerson Mosquera have now been ruled out for significant spells with injuries.

This may not all be plain sailing for the Molineux side but at least it will be a smooth experience at Deepdale.

Sam Fletcher
BBC Final Score commentator at Pride Park

There are a lot of fans arriving early around the ground at Pride Park.

Despite it only being the second league game of the season, fans say pressure is building amid disappointing signings, injuries, a scrapped takeover and lack of points.

Cardiff's triumphant return to the Championship was almost derailed by those upstarts from Wrexham on Monday night before Rubin Colwill's late, late intervention salvaged a point.

Derby, eighth last season and which will be enough for a play-off spot this time around, are already on the backfoot after defeat by Charlton on the opening day.

The Rams mood has not been improved with the loss of injured defender Matt Clarke for three months but winger Ryan Hedges has been brought in this week to become John Eustace's sixth signing of the summer.

Derby's Sam Szmodics and Yousef Salech of Cardiff have already found the net twice each this season and you sense these two sides will need them to keep firing if they are to trouble the top sides in the Championship.

Image source, Getty Images

The biggest crowd of the day in England, a 62,500 sell-out, will see the first London derby between West Ham and Charlton in 19 years as the Hammers play their first home game outside the top flight since 2011-12.

United smashed the EFL transfer record by spending £22m on Celtic midfielder Arne Engels before taking Leeds striker Joel Piroe on loan this week, but were pegged back late to draw their opening game at Burnley on Sunday.

West Ham have lost six of their past eight home openers and have taken just one point from their past nine London derbies at home, losing all six last season, their worst ever run.

Charlton head across the river off the back of a 2-1 win over Derby on the opening weekend hoping to emulate the 4-0 win they enjoyed the last time this fixture was played and extend their run of 13 points from the past six games between the sides.

The Addicks also had a fine record on the road against relegated sides in the Championship last season, taking seven points from trips to Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton, conceding only once in the process.