Surprise pacesetters & resurgent runs - five things to watch in the EFL

Swansea host Wrexham on Saturday (20:00 BST) and while it may not be a derby in the traditional sense, with more than 100 miles separating the two Welsh cities, there is a rivalry growing since the Red Dragons were promoted to the Championship in 2025.Wrexham go into the game off the back of a 3-0 win at Millwall on Wednesday, while Swansea beat Watford, 24 hours earlier.Elsewhere, we very much have two genuine local derbies to look forward to with Preston North End taking on Blackburn Rovers on Saturday lunchtime (12:30) before Birmingham City and Wolves round off the weekend in the West Midlands on Sunday (12:00).Blackburn claimed the Lancashire bragging rights last season, winning both encounters, and are unbeaten in their past five games against the Lilywhites (W3 D2).Paul Heckingbottom's side have endured a miserable start to the new campaign with four straight defeats and remain the only team yet to pick up a point, while Rovers have five points from four matches.When Wolves travel to St Andrew's to face Birmingham, it will be the first meeting between the two sides for eight years.Wolves did the double over Blues in 2017-18, winning the away fixture 1-0 and securing a 2-0 victory at Molineux on the way to promotion - something they will hope to repeat again this season.Much has changed since then of course and Birmingham will hope to keep their unbeaten start, albeit with three draws, intact. What a transformation Bristol Rovers have undergone since Steve Evans took over as manager in December 2025.When the 63-year-old walked through the door at the Memorial Stadium nine months ago, the Gas were on a dismal run of 10 straight defeats and in the League Two relegation zone.But Evans steered the club away from danger to comfortably avoid dropping out of the EFL and secured a 14th-place finish.Rovers have won 14 of their past 18 league games under Evans, picking up more points (41) than any other side in the division in that time, and have lost just twice on that run.One of those defeats came in a topsy-turvy season-opener at York City when they went down 3-2 but they have recovered with three straight victories to top the table early on, with promotion the ultimate aim."The position in the table doesn't really matter at this stage," Evans told BBC Radio Bristol."It's easily said when you're sitting up there, but the reality is you'd rather be first than anywhere else. "And that's come off the back of three really good performances, improvements needed in a lot of areas, but over the piece, we're delighted with those three games."This weekend, the Gas welcome Rotherham United - a club with which Evans enjoyed immense success by winning back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship between 2012 and 2014."I think the first years I had at Rotherham were really special," he added."I always will have a love for that football club inside me but that's where it stops. My job on Saturday is to try and beat them."My love in my life is Bristol Rovers and I'm endeared to this club and I've not won enough games to speak in the same terms of what I did at Rotherham but that's the objective."