Five things in the EFL: New year, new hopes and fears

New Year's Eve is overrated, much better to spend the night poring over league tables and fixtures while working out the various permutations that get your team to where you want them.

In the Championship, is it time to take Hull City seriously, and what have Watford been drinking lately?

Big dogs Huddersfield are coming to life in League One, while in League Two there are surprise names at both ends of the table.

Here are five things to keep an eye on as we head into 2026.

We need to talk about Hull City. No, we really do.

Four wins during a five-match unbeaten run have been eye-catching enough but when you consider those victories have come against Wrexham, Millwall, West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough it is time we took notice.

Those victories have also come without the Championship's joint second top scorer, Joe Gelhardt, who may still be out for at least another fortnight before he can add to his 10 goals, while winger Mohamed Belloumi has also joined the casualty list.

Under their previously unheralded boss Sergej Jakirovic, the Tigers have quietly sneaked into fourth place, two points outside the automatic promotion places.

"I'm very pleased because we are playing well and we will try to push this but it will not be easy because everyone is struggling with injuries," said Jakirovic after Monday's win at Middlesbrough.

A title winner in his native Bosnia as well as Croatia, he knows how to get the job done but sustaining it with limited trading ability in the January transfer window will be a test of his skills.

Also, before any fans in East Yorkshire get too excited they may like to look at Thursday's opponents Stoke when they arrive at the MKM Stadium (15:00 GMT).

Second at the end of November, the Potters' poor run of five defeats from their past seven outings finds them now in 10th place, four points short of the top six.

Fortunes can fluctuate quickly in football, particularly in the chaos that is the Championship.

It is not often the words 'perfect fit' go together with 'manager' and 'Watford' but there is something about the Hornets and Javi Gracia that just works.

I mean, granted they sacked him in 2019 barely four months after he had guided them to the FA Cup final and have gone through 12 appointments since then but, here he is back once again to sit on his throne as the Prince of, well, Vicarage Road.

Monday's dramatic late 1-0 win at Norwich pushed Watford into the play-off places for the first time this season and they currently top the Championship's form guide with 14 points during an unbeaten six-game run.

"I love working at Christmas! It's something I never thought that I could say. It's something amazing to get three wins in a row," Gracia told BBC Three Counties Radio after the Carrow Road victory.

"This spirit, the team with all the players involved as well, it's something to be proud of."

Starting with Birmingham on Thursday (15:00 GMT), Watford have league matches with Hull City and Millwall to come in the next three weeks - stay unbeaten in those and the revolving door at Watford may not need oiling for a while.

It feels like it should be a big game in the context of a Championship season but it is 17th v 12th (17:30 GMT) and so could be seen by those not directly involved as a bit, meh?

So why are we highlighting something that is a bit meh? Well because of the very fact it is a bit meh and it really should not be.

This time last season Sheffield United were second in the table before ultimately losing in the play-off final while Leicester, in the Premier League, had just lost successive games to Liverpool and Manchester City.

Both were expected to be right up there challenging this season, but they are not for a whole variety of reasons.

The Blades thought binning boss Chris Wilder was the way forward until six straight defeats to start the season told them it was not and they brought him back to replace Ruben Selles.

Leicester, with the risk of a points deduction still hanging over them, have threatened to push themselves into the promotion picture but sporadic defensive horror shows including a 4-1 hammering at QPR have held them back.

So, while others pull away these two are left to scrap it out in no-man's land or will a new year bring renewed hope?

Since relegation from the Premier League in 2019, Huddersfield Town have gone through nine managers in trying to get back there.

They have come in all shapes and sizes - Europeans, old hands, club stalwarts and now, in Lee Grant, a rookie in his first gig as the top man.

For League One, the Terriers are a big dog with crowds regularly touching 18,000 and a squad the envy of many.

It has been a stuttering season so far but three successive wins suggest they might be about to click.

So, here is a good chance for the fifth-placed Yorkshire outfit to test themselves at a Lincoln side (15:00 GMT) continuing to be the division's disruptors in second and on a six-game unbeaten run.

Two of the bottom four in League Two were in League One last season.

The leaders of League Two were a non-league side 19 months ago.

It is a division of opportunity for some but no respecter of reputation.

Shrewsbury and Bristol Rovers will not be sorry to see the back of 2025 as they start the new year by meeting in Shropshire (15:00 GMT) with their heads just above the dreaded dotted line.

Rovers' 30 league defeats made them the EFL's worst performers over the past 12 months. Shrewsbury lost 27 games to make them joint-second worst - both suffered relegation so this might not be one for the faint-hearted with their respective league standings under threat.

Bromley, by contrast, have taken to the EFL like a duck to water under Andy Woodman - getting their feet wet by finishing 11th last season and now leading the way on the back of a five-match winning streak.

They also now possess the EFL's only unbeaten home record and will fancy extending that at home to relegation-haunted Newport (15:00 GMT).

Bristol Rovers and Shrewsbury will be keen for the Ravens do them a favour.

BBC Sport will have live text coverage of all the New Year's Day EFL action.