Gab Sutton's EFL Winners & Losers - November 8-9
Gab Sutton 
Leagues One and Two returned this weekend after the first round of the FA Cup last week, meaning it was a full round of EFL action before the international break.
Free Bets EFL expert Gab Sutton highlights the standout winners and losers from the latest round of fixtures.
Winners
Coventry
Coventry extended their gap at the top of the Championship to five points, and their gap to third, to seven, with a 1-0 victory at high-flyers Stoke.
The one argument against the Sky Blues, and their promotion credentials after such a splendid start, would have been a slight lack of depth, but they’ve been operating without attacking midfielder Jack Rudoni for numerous weeks and have continually found ways to win.
An attacking quartet of Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Ephron Mason-Clark and Haji Wright has caught fire for Frank Lampard’s side, who look the clear team to stop.
The way things are going, 85 points will get automatic promotion this season, and the Midlanders already have 34 after just 15 games.
Luke Williams
It’s been the perfect start for Luke Williams at Peterborough.
The Posh weren’t miles off in Darren Ferguson’s final games – they peppered Blackpool in his last match, for instance – but maybe needed a fresh face to lift things, and the charismatic Williams has done that straight away.
The PE2 outfit played sumptuous, one-touch football in a 5-0 demolition of Wimbledon in his first league game in charge, following FA Cup victory over Cardiff last week, with Blackburn recruit Harry Leonard bagging an impressive brace.
More performances like that and Peterborough should find a route out of the bottom four.
Notts County
Notts County rounded off the weekend’s action in English football with a 2-1 victory at Cheltenham, thanks to goals from Alassana Jatta and Tyrese Hall.
The Magpies’ appointment of Martin Paterson was roundly questioned in the summer, but the former Burton boss is defying his doubters, as his side have taken 13 points from their last five games to climb into the top three.
Establishing sturdy defensive foundations, whilst getting the best out of forwards Alassana Jatta and Matthew Dennis, has been the key for County, who have benefited from some ruthless finishing.
Losers
Liam Manning
Norwich City’s eighth home league defeat of the season proved the final straw for boss Liam Manning, whose tenure concluded without so much as a point at Carrow Road.
Manning clearly has respectable coaching acumen, but has had two isolated seasons in his career so far in which his teams have veered alarmingly off-course: 2022-23 MK Dons, and 2025-26 Norwich.
It suggests that when his players are inherently confident and motivated, the technical detail he can offer wins over, but he struggles to lift the troops in difficult moments.
Manning’s exit by no means ends the major question marks hanging over Carrow Road, however, with much of the Yellow Army calling for the exit of Sporting Director Ben Knapper, Executive Director Zoe Webber, and Technical Director Neil Adams.
Plymouth
Plymouth Argyle dropped to the bottom of League One with a 3-1 loss at Huddersfield, a 10th defeat in 15.
Tom Cleverley’s side seemed to have turned a corner in September, with three wins in four accompanied by Peterborough’s smash-and-grab job at Home Park, as positive performances and statement results looked to have them on the recovery.
Since October’s 1-1 draw with Wigan, though, it’s been four straight league defeats, including a fatal Devon Derby no-show, that has fans calling for Cleverley’s head, and asking big questions of the running the club.
Argyle have shown potential going forward, in certain games, with the likes of Bradley Ibrahim and Lorent Tolaj looking excellent individual signings – but collectively, and defensively in particular, it’s been a mess.
Harrogate
Fourteen points from their first 10 games had been a bright start to Harrogate’s 2025-26 campaign in League Two, but they’ve since plummeted down the table with five straight defeats.
Goalkeeper James Belshaw and centre-back Anthony O’Connor, and the defensive reliability they provided, had been Town’s main USP going into the season, yet both have been out of the XI in recent weeks, and although the latter was back in for the 1-0 loss to Oldham, it suggests disruption in the one area of strength.
The North Yorkshire outfit have to defend their box well, have to have a top goalkeeper for the level, because they don’t have a dependable cutting edge up top, as Mason Bennett and Shawn McCoulsky have recurring fitness challenges, while Jack Muldoon and Conor McAleny aren’t out-and-out strikers.
Stephen Duke-McKenna has brought craft from the right, but collectively, this Harrogate team looks in serious trouble.
Gab Sutton provides weekly football betting tips for Free Bets, where he picks out a weekly longshot acca and then discusses the week's events and how the leagues unfolded at the start of the following week.
