The Championship picture shifted again at the weekend, with Queens Park Rangers inflicting a heavy defeat on Swansea City and Derby County extending a winless league run that now stretches back to the start of September.

QPR put Swansea to the sword

Queens Park Rangers recorded what is being described as a big win over Swansea City, a result that will send ripples through the top end of the second-tier table. Swansea had headed into the match with genuine ambitions of sustaining a promotion challenge, having led the Championship earlier in the campaign, so the nature of the defeat will sting.

BBC Final Score pundit and former Swindon, Luton and Northampton Town striker Sam Parkin highlighted the QPR result as one of the weekend's standout Championship moments. The manner of the victory will give Swansea head coach something to address quickly, particularly in the context of a fixture list that offers little room to shed points if a push for the automatic places is to remain credible.

For QPR, the win represents exactly the kind of result a side in the middle of the table needs to consolidate its position and apply pressure upwards. The R's have shown in patches this season that they are capable of performing at a high level; the challenge, as ever, is stringing those performances together consistently enough to matter come the spring.

Swansea's wobble in context

Swansea will not panic after one bad afternoon, and nor should they. They remain a well-organised side with genuine quality in the squad, and their earlier league form demonstrated they can compete with anyone in the division. But results like this demand a response, and the expectation around Swansea suggests supporters will want one promptly.

The club had expressed confidence through the week that the squad could bounce back from previous disappointments; they will need to call on that resolve again now. A heavy loss to a direct rival in the division is the kind of result that can either galvanise a group or expose deeper anxieties, and the next two or three fixtures will tell a great deal about which way this Swansea side is pointed.

Derby's miserable run goes on

Derby County sit 23rd in the Championship following a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United. John Eustace's side have not won a league game since 1 September, a run of six matches without a victory that leaves them in the relegation zone with an increasingly urgent need for a turnaround.

Parkin acknowledged that goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom was outstanding at Bramall Lane, his saves the primary reason Derby did not leave empty-handed. That is a small crumb of comfort, but a point from a game of that nature is a thin return for a club that badly needed three.

"They'll be bitterly disappointed with only leaving with a point," Parkin said. "For Derby, they've had problems with injuries. Obviously there was hope of a takeover in the summer that hasn't materialised. They're working with a squad that maybe is not as strong in every department."

That last point is worth dwelling on. The hoped-for takeover that did not come to fruition over the summer has left Derby operating under familiar financial constraints, and a squad built accordingly is now being asked to compete in a division that has grown sharper and better resourced around them. Parkin said he retains confidence that Eustace can turn things around; Eustace himself has remained calm publicly throughout, though the table makes grim reading.

Norwich City, themselves emerging from a difficult patch, are understood to have two fixtures against Watford and Derby identified as winnable games. That framing says plenty about where Derby stand in the collective estimation of the division right now. The next few weeks will determine whether the draw at Sheffield United proves to be any kind of turning point, or merely a pause in a deepening slide.

For a club whose supporter base has lived through the darkest of times in recent years, the hope remains that the footballing side of the business can find a foothold. The players, as Ryan Nyambe noted recently, must now stop pointing at circumstances and compete.

Frequently asked

Where are Derby County in the Championship table?
Derby County are currently 23rd in the Championship, having not won a league match since 1 September. A 1-1 draw at Sheffield United is their most recent result.
What was the QPR vs Swansea result?
Queens Park Rangers recorded a big win over Swansea City at the weekend, according to reports covering the weekend's Championship action. The full scoreline underlines QPR's superiority on the day.
Who is Derby's manager and is his job under threat?
John Eustace is Derby County's head coach. Despite a winless league run stretching back to 1 September, Eustace has remained publicly calm and pundit Sam Parkin has expressed confidence he can turn the club's form around.