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Welcome to a busy night of EFL as well as continental football fixtures. Our focus includes key second-tier encounters plus those crucial last group matches in this Africa Cup of Nations competition.

Introduction

Greetings to all. You are welcome to the arguably this penultimate football clockwatch of 2025. There’s a full Football League programme, kicking off with Ipswich's trip to Coventry at 18:00, and we’ll also be keeping at least a third of an eye on the two evening fixtures from Group A at this Afcon: Zambia against the hosts Morocco and Mali facing Comoros.

We'll be focussing on these matches, with 7.45pm kick-offs except where noted.

Afcon 2025

• The Coelacanths v The Eagles (7pm)
• Zambia versus Morocco (19:00)

Second Division Matches

• Coventry versus Ipswich (6pm)
• The Foxes v The Rams
• Boro versus The Tigers
• The Lions versus The Robins
• The Red Dragons versus North End

Third Tier Fixture

• Cardiff v Boro

Recent Lineup Updates

Coventry v Ipswich Confirmed Lineups

The evening's opener, featuring the sides sitting first and third in the second tier, looks like a cracker. These are the starting elevens.

Coventry (4-2-3-1) The goalkeeper; the right-back, Woolfenden, Kitching, Brau; the midfielder, Grimes; Sakamoto, the attacking midfielder, the forward; the striker.

Substitutes: The backup keeper, the midfielder, the forward, Kesler-Hayden, the full-back, Latibeaudiere, Eccles, the youngster, the player.

Ipswich (4-2-3-1) Walton; Furlong, the centre-half, the defender, Greaves; Matusiwa, the midfielder; the attacker, Nunez, the winger; the centre-forward.

Subs: Palmer, Young, Johnson, Humphreys, the midfielder, Burns, McAteer, the attacker, Akpom.

Referee Backhouse (from Cumbria).

Africa Cup of Nations: First Group Scenarios

It's a tricky picture. It always is where only some third-place sides qualify. This is the current state ahead of tonight’s final set of games.

• Morocco 4 points, +2 goal difference
• The Eagles 2pts, 0 goal difference (goals scored 2)
• The Copper Bullets 2pts, 0 goal difference (with 1 goal for)
• Comoros 1 point, -2 goal difference

Briefly, Morocco are probably fine but will want to beat Zambia and win their pool. Zambia likely requires a draw or better versus the hosts. The island nation likely need to overcome Mali, who will probably be okay with a point.

A host of potential results and permutations.

Egypt's Match with Angola Update

The final act of the second group at this Africa Cup of Nations has coverage elsewhere. If you don’t want to know the score, avoid following that coverage.

Championship Table Overview

Pos	Team	P	GD	Pts
1	Coventry	23	31	51
2	Middlesbrough	23	9	43
3	Ipswich	23	15	38
4	Hull	23	2	38
5	Preston North End	23	7	37
6	Bristol City	23	7	36
7	Millwall	23	-6	36
8	Watford	23	4	35
9	QPR	23	-2	35
10	Stoke	23	7	34
11	Derby	23	1	32
12	Southampton	23	4	31
13	Wrexham	23	2	31
14	Leicester	23	-1	31
15	Birmingham	23	1	30
16	West Brom	23	-5	28
17	Charlton	22	-6	27
18	Blackburn	22	-4	26
19	Sheff Utd	23	-5	26
20	Swansea	23	-7	26
21	Oxford Utd	23	-8	22
22	Portsmouth	22	-10	22
23	Norwich	23	-9	21
24	Sheff Wed	22	-27	-8