Norwich maintained their impressive surge up the Championship table with a 4-0 demolition of a ragged Hull side at Carrow Road. The Tigers went into the match with three straight wins behind them but were no match for a rampant home outfit who scored twice in each half to make it four wins in six games.
Helped by some desperately poor defending, Norwich scored two early goals in quick succession through Marcelino Nunez and Josh Sargent to take control. They could then afford a missed penalty from Sargent before wrapping up a comfortable win through Kaide Gordon – with his first goal since his loan move from Liverpool – and an eighth of the season from Spanish flyer Borja Sainz.
Burnley missed the chance to go top as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Preston in a scrappy, occasionally bad-tempered Lancashire derby. The visitors gained a valuable point in their bid to pull away from the relegation zone, in their first outing since the striker Milutin Osmajic was given an eight-match ban for biting.
Preston could feel hard done, as they saw a fourth-minute goal by Emil Riis wrongly disallowed for offside. Riis darted on to Ben Whiteman’s clever low free-kick to sweep a shot into the far corner of the net, and television replays showed that the Danish striker had got the timing of his run right.
Louie Sibley came off the bench to fire his first Oxford goal and deny Portsmouth a first win of the season in a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park.
Mark O’Mahony had stooped low to head Pompey into a 58th-minute lead, after Elias Sorensen had seen an early penalty saved.
Sibley brilliantly finished from the edge of the area 128 seconds after coming on as Oxford drew on the road for the second time in a week, after starting the season with three away defeats.
Pompey remain winless on their return to the Championship, their worst start to a campaign since 2009-10 – the season they were relegated from the Premier League.
Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho apologised to assistant referee Bhupinder Singh Gill for an alleged discriminatory comment made from the stands during the game.
Singh Gill drew attention to alleged offensive remarks made towards him during the second half at Fratton Park to referee Lewis Smith, with the club later appealing for information to help identify those responsible.
Smith paused the match and reported the comments to the fourth official before a Tannoy announcement was made to warn spectators about bad behaviour.
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“A discriminatory comment was made to the linesman,” confirmed Smith.
“I think there was something said to the linesman on the far side,” said Mousinho about the incident.
“I’ve apologised to the linesman after the game if anything was said and I know that it will be dealt with appropriately.
“We heard the Tannoy announcement and everyone here will condone it.”