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October is here. A month of tricks, treats, nerve-jangling fear and upsetting your neighbours.

Oh, and it’s also Halloween soon, too.

This weekend’s English Football League (EFL) programme is sure to have all of the above and more, with a tightly packed field in the top half of the Championship and featuring a couple of the marquee fixtures of the season, all kicking off with the ‘Hollywood derby’ between Wrexham and Birmingham on Friday night.

In League One most of the pre-season promotion favourites are floundering while several of the division’s lesser lights are shining the brightest – and if you thought last season’s League Two promotion race was right, well things are already shaping up to be even more chaotic this season.

High noon on Sunday sees one of the biggest games of any EFL campaign as Norwich head to Ipswich for the East Anglian derby.

The last time the Tractor Boys got one over on the Canaries was April 2009 when Gordon Brown was prime minister and Oasis were weeks away from a 16-year split. Might their recent reunion be a good omen for Town this weekend?

The Canaries have taken 26 points from the dozen Championship meetings since then, and also enjoyed a famous 4-2 aggregate win in the play-off semi-finals in 2015.

This match might be as big on the pitch as it is off it. Ipswich have yet to find their feet after relegation from the Premier League, winning just two of their opening seven games to lie 13th, while Norwich are floundering in 19th with eight points from eight games.

Perhaps the best news for Norwich-born Canaries boss Liam Manning, who represented both these clubs in his youth, is that the game is at Portman Road – City have now lost all five matches at Carrow Road this season after Wednesday’s 1-0 reverse to West Brom.

They are also unbeaten in seven in enemy territory, winning three times, though three of the past four meetings in Suffolk have ended all square.

Fierce local rivals, both in patchy form, and as if we needed another subplot we have one – midfielder Marcelino Nunez became the first City player to make the switch to Town in 24 years in a £10m deal in August.

The Chilean has made two cameos off the bench after an ankle injury but made his first Ipswich start in the 1-1 draw at Bristol City on Tuesday.

Oh, did I mention he scored the winner for Norwich the last time these two met?

Oli McBurnie, appropriately enough, is on fire.

The 29-year-old Scotland international was picked up by Hull City after his departure from La Liga side Las Palmas in the summer and is in the form of his life, scoring seven goals in his first nine appearances in all competitions.

His six goals and four assists in eight Championship games lead the way in terms of goal contributions in the second tier and he’s made the EFL team of the week in half of his appearances to date.

Two goals against Preston salvaged a 2-2 draw at MKM Stadium on Tuesday and saw him score in a fourth consecutive game for the first time in his 360-match career.

The Tigers welcome basement boys Sheffield United to Humberside on Saturday (12:30 BST), the club McBurnie spent five seasons at before his Spanish adventure.

McBurnie scored only 13 goals across 66 Championship appearances for the Blades, with another 13 in 96 games in the Premier League across three other seasons with them and one with previous club Swansea.

Just 12 miles separate Luton and Stevenage, but it’s been more than seven years since they last met in the league and there has seldom been more at stake than this Saturday (15:00).

Since that League Two meeting in February 2018 the Hatters have been promoted three times and relegated twice, while Stevenage have stepped up to League One and they meet as equals.

The local derby has been evenly matched, with both sides claiming 11 points from their eight previous EFL meetings, though Town have picked up just two points from their past three visits to the Lamex.

Their last meeting, a League Cup first-round tie at Stevenage in August 2021, ended 2-2, with Stevenage winning 3-0 on penalties – and how the home fans would love to be celebrating again this weekend.

Stevenage go into the game sat in the automatic promotion places after collecting 22 points from their opening nine games, losing only once at Huddersfield back in August, and winning three of their past four games.

This week we saw Jose Mourinho stroll back into Stamford Bridge as though he owns the place, with custard creams laid on for good measure.

Not every manager receives such red carpet treatment when they return to a former club, especially when they might have left under acrimonious circumstances.

Speaking of which, former Plymouth boss Ryan Lowe will return to Home Park with new club Wigan in League One on Saturday (15:00).

After joining Argyle in 2019 Lowe guided the Pilgrims to promotion from League Two and had them flying high in the promotion race in League One before leaving in December 2021 to join Championship club Preston.

Tom Cleverley is the fifth man to lead Argyle on a permanent basis since then.

Lowe had the last laugh when he first returned to Devon with the Lilywhites in the Championship in March 2024, picking up a 1-0 win over his former side, but things did not pan out at Deepdale and after a spell out of the dugout he took over at the Latics in March.

The League Two promotion race in 2024-25 was like one of those horse racing games you find at a seaside amusement arcade.

You pick your colour and urge it out of the gate, feel despair as its fast start fades, others pick up momentum which then peters out, eventually 10 runners are within striking distance going into the final furlong before the fast-finishing red-and-white colours take the win while the long-time leader in red and black ends up empty-handed.

Well, I don’t wish to alarm you, but the early stages of this season have all the hallmarks of another epic race to the finish.

The top 16 sides are separated by just eight points, 14 of them have a positive goal difference and we’ll be roughly a quarter of the way through the season this weekend.

Walsall, who were the footballing equivalent of Devon Loch last season, find themselves back on top for the visit of seventh-placed Bristol Rovers.

Gillingham’s unbeaten start was ended last weekend to drop to third, but they will seek to bounce back at MK Dons, sitting ninth, while fourth plays fifth with Salford hosting Grimsby.

Saddle up…

You can follow the entire weekend as it happens on the BBC Sport website and app, starting with live text coverage of Wrexham v Birmingham City on Friday, 3 October.

October is here. A month of tricks, treats, nerve-jangling fear and upsetting your neighbours.

Oh, and it’s also Halloween soon, too.

This weekend’s English Football League (EFL) programme is sure to have all of the above and more, with a tightly packed field in the top half of the Championship and featuring a couple of the marquee fixtures of the season, all kicking off with the ‘Hollywood derby’ between Wrexham and Birmingham on Friday night.

In League One most of the pre-season promotion favourites are floundering while several of the division’s lesser lights are shining the brightest – and if you thought last season’s League Two promotion race was right, well things are already shaping up to be even more chaotic this season.

High noon on Sunday sees one of the biggest games of any EFL campaign as Norwich head to Ipswich for the East Anglian derby.

The last time the Tractor Boys got one over on the Canaries was April 2009 when Gordon Brown was prime minister and Oasis were weeks away from a 16-year split. Might their recent reunion be a good omen for Town this weekend?

The Canaries have taken 26 points from the dozen Championship meetings since then, and also enjoyed a famous 4-2 aggregate win in the play-off semi-finals in 2015.

This match might be as big on the pitch as it is off it. Ipswich have yet to find their feet after relegation from the Premier League, winning just two of their opening seven games to lie 13th, while Norwich are floundering in 19th with eight points from eight games.

Perhaps the best news for Norwich-born Canaries boss Liam Manning, who represented both these clubs in his youth, is that the game is at Portman Road – City have now lost all five matches at Carrow Road this season after Wednesday’s 1-0 reverse to West Brom.

They are also unbeaten in seven in enemy territory, winning three times, though three of the past four meetings in Suffolk have ended all square.

Fierce local rivals, both in patchy form, and as if we needed another subplot we have one – midfielder Marcelino Nunez became the first City player to make the switch to Town in 24 years in a £10m deal in August.

The Chilean has made two cameos off the bench after an ankle injury but made his first Ipswich start in the 1-1 draw at Bristol City on Tuesday.

Oh, did I mention he scored the winner for Norwich the last time these two met?

Oli McBurnie, appropriately enough, is on fire.

The 29-year-old Scotland international was picked up by Hull City after his departure from La Liga side Las Palmas in the summer and is in the form of his life, scoring seven goals in his first nine appearances in all competitions.

His six goals and four assists in eight Championship games lead the way in terms of goal contributions in the second tier and he’s made the EFL team of the week in half of his appearances to date.

Two goals against Preston salvaged a 2-2 draw at MKM Stadium on Tuesday and saw him score in a fourth consecutive game for the first time in his 360-match career.

The Tigers welcome basement boys Sheffield United to Humberside on Saturday (12:30 BST), the club McBurnie spent five seasons at before his Spanish adventure.

McBurnie scored only 13 goals across 66 Championship appearances for the Blades, with another 13 in 96 games in the Premier League across three other seasons with them and one with previous club Swansea.

Just 12 miles separate Luton and Stevenage, but it’s been more than seven years since they last met in the league and there has seldom been more at stake than this Saturday (15:00).

Since that League Two meeting in February 2018 the Hatters have been promoted three times and relegated twice, while Stevenage have stepped up to League One and they meet as equals.

The local derby has been evenly matched, with both sides claiming 11 points from their eight previous EFL meetings, though Town have picked up just two points from their past three visits to the Lamex.

Their last meeting, a League Cup first-round tie at Stevenage in August 2021, ended 2-2, with Stevenage winning 3-0 on penalties – and how the home fans would love to be celebrating again this weekend.

Stevenage go into the game sat in the automatic promotion places after collecting 22 points from their opening nine games, losing only once at Huddersfield back in August, and winning three of their past four games.

This week we saw Jose Mourinho stroll back into Stamford Bridge as though he owns the place, with custard creams laid on for good measure.

Not every manager receives such red carpet treatment when they return to a former club, especially when they might have left under acrimonious circumstances.

Speaking of which, former Plymouth boss Ryan Lowe will return to Home Park with new club Wigan in League One on Saturday (15:00).

After joining Argyle in 2019 Lowe guided the Pilgrims to promotion from League Two and had them flying high in the promotion race in League One before leaving in December 2021 to join Championship club Preston.

Tom Cleverley is the fifth man to lead Argyle on a permanent basis since then.

Lowe had the last laugh when he first returned to Devon with the Lilywhites in the Championship in March 2024, picking up a 1-0 win over his former side, but things did not pan out at Deepdale and after a spell out of the dugout he took over at the Latics in March.

The League Two promotion race in 2024-25 was like one of those horse racing games you find at a seaside amusement arcade.

You pick your colour and urge it out of the gate, feel despair as its fast start fades, others pick up momentum which then peters out, eventually 10 runners are within striking distance going into the final furlong before the fast-finishing red-and-white colours take the win while the long-time leader in red and black ends up empty-handed.

Well, I don’t wish to alarm you, but the early stages of this season have all the hallmarks of another epic race to the finish.

The top 16 sides are separated by just eight points, 14 of them have a positive goal difference and we’ll be roughly a quarter of the way through the season this weekend.

Walsall, who were the footballing equivalent of Devon Loch last season, find themselves back on top for the visit of seventh-placed Bristol Rovers.

Gillingham’s unbeaten start was ended last weekend to drop to third, but they will seek to bounce back at MK Dons, sitting ninth, while fourth plays fifth with Salford hosting Grimsby.

Saddle up…

You can follow the entire weekend as it happens on the BBC Sport website and app, starting with live text coverage of Wrexham v Birmingham City on Friday, 3 October.

England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt says that her team are “chalk and cheese” compared to how they felt after the Ashes defeat at the beginning of the year.

Sciver-Brunt took over as captain after the 16-0 thrashing at the hands of Australia, which saw Heather Knight removed from her position alongside coach Jon Lewis, who was replaced by Charlotte Edwards.

The all-rounder now prepares to lead England in a World Cup for the first time, with their opening game against South Africa in Guwahati on Friday.

“Everyone feels really relaxed and feels pretty confident in what we’ve done in terms of the preparation,” Sciver-Brunt told BBC Sport.

The difficult winter also saw England knocked out of the T20 World Cup in the group stages last autumn, and led to scrutiny surrounding the team’s fitness, attitude and ability to perform in high-pressure situations.

In their home summer, Sciver-Brunt oversaw a clean sweep in both white-ball formats against West Indies in her first series in charge but they were subsequently beaten in both series against a far superior India, who are hosting the World Cup with Sri Lanka.

But Sciver-Brunt added that things had improved “both on and off the field” as England begin their quest for a first trophy since the famous World Cup win over India at Lord’s in 2017.

“We felt like we couldn’t do anything right out in Australia and we obviously felt hugely negative about our whole experience there.

“Cricket-wise, we just didn’t put out the performances that we wanted to and that we would have been proud of.

“We have been reflecting on that, trying to draw a line in the sand and bringing in different things on and off the pitch. It has been a really good catalyst for us to be in the place that we are now.

The World Cup opener saw India comfortably beat Sri Lanka at the same venue, where the pitch offered more assistance to the spinners and there was also a challenge for players to cope with high heat and humidity.

England have included four frontline spinners in Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn and Linsey Smith in their squad, with Alice Capsey as a part-time option. Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer and Em Arlott are the quicks.

Sciver-Brunt also confirmed that she is fully fit to bowl after recovering from an Achilles problem, meaning she has not bowled competitively since the Ashes.

“I’m excited to be able to play a full part as an all-rounder again, to be honest.

“That’s how I always want to play, to try and take things on in all three departments, so that’ll be adding another string to my bow.”

England beat New Zealand in two unofficial warm-ups before the tournament, and then beat favourites India and Australia in their others.