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Welcome for the busy evening of Football League as well as continental soccer action. Our focus includes important second-tier matches and those crucial last pool games in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

Opening Notes

Oh, hi folks. You are welcome to what is reportedly the penultimate soccer clockwatch of the year. There’s a full Football League schedule, starting with Coventry v Ipswich at 18:00, and we will also monitor 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 the following fixtures, all 19:45 kick-offs except where noted.

Afcon 2025

• The Coelacanths v The Eagles (19:00)
• The Copper Bullets versus Morocco (19:00)

Second Division Matches

• The Sky Blues v Ipswich (18:00)
• Leicester v The Rams
• Boro v Hull
• Millwall versus Bristol City
• The Red Dragons versus Preston

Third Tier Fixture

• The Bluebirds versus Boro

Latest Team News

Coventry v Ipswich Team News

The evening's opener, between the teams who are top and third in the second tier, could be a thriller. Here are the starting elevens.

Coventry (a 4-2-3-1 formation) The goalkeeper; van Ewijk, Woolfenden, Kitching, the left-back; the midfielder, the captain; the winger, Rudoni, Mason-Clark; Wright.

Substitutes: Wilson, the midfielder, the forward, the defender, the full-back, Latibeaudiere, the midfielder, the youngster, Andrews.

Ipswich (a 4-2-3-1 setup) Walton; Furlong, the centre-half, Kipre, the left-back; the midfielder, the midfielder; Walle, Nunez, the winger; the centre-forward.

Subs: Palmer, Young, Johnson, Humphreys, Cajuste, the winger, the forward, the attacker, Akpom.

The official Anthony Backhouse (Cumbria).

Afcon 2025: Group A Scenarios

The situation is complex. It always is when some but not all third-placed teams qualify. Here’s how things look ahead of tonight’s last set of matches.

• The Atlas Lions 4 points, +2 goal difference
• The Eagles 2 points, GD0 (goals scored 2)
• Zambia 2 points, GD0 (with 1 goal for)
• The Coelacanths 1 point, -2 goal difference

To summarize, Morocco are probably fine but will want to beat Zambia to win the group. Zambia probably need a draw or better against the hosts. The island nation likely need to beat Mali, who will probably be okay with a draw.

A host of potential results and permutations.

Egypt's Match with Angola Update

The denouement of Group B at the Africa Cup of Nations has coverage elsewhere. If you don’t want to know the score, avoid following that coverage.

Second Tier Standings Snapshot

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