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Photo courtesy Ingy The Wingy's Flickr account

Many pundits will have their eyes more on the present than on the future in the lead-up to Saturday’s big Coca-Cola Football League One first-versus-second clash between Leeds United and Charlton Athletic, but Simon Grayson and Phil Parkinson both know better.

It’s a long season in all three divisions of the Football League, but Leeds manager Grayson and his opposite number at Charlton know that winning the war is more important than winning the battle, and even though Leeds will likely stay atop the division after this weekend, a win for either side could go a long way in deciding who will go up as League One champion come the end of the season.

“It’s not about the weekend, it’s over the course of 46 games,” Grayson told BBC Radio Leeds about Saturday’s big match at Elland Road.  “It’ll be a fantastic atmosphere and crowd, and hopefully it goes to highlight what League One is about at times.”

Grayson and his Leeds team will be itching to get back to winning ways on Saturday, having lost their 100% record at their Elland Road home in a midweek draw against Carlisle United.  Charlton fared worse in midweek, though, in a 3-0 loss to a Colchester United side that has had its own reasonably successful stab at things so far in the current campaign.

Parkinson’s Addicks have only won one of their last four matches in League One, with two draws in that span and a 2-1 home win over Exeter City.  A win away to their immediate rivals to win the league this season would undoubtedly put the Londoners back on track, though, and it would make Leeds’ chances of climbing out of League One at the third time of asking that little bit trickier.

For division-by-division previews of the rest of the weekend’s action in the Football League, follow along after the jump.

Championship: Saturday shouldn’t be a walk in the park for the Championship’s top three sides, especially with two of them squaring off with one another.  League-leading Newcastle United are home to ninth-place Bristol City, but the more intriguing matchup will take place at Deepdale, as third-place Preston North End welcomes second-place West Bromwich Albion to Lancashire.  American readers, be advised: This game will be shown live on ESPN360.com starting at 7:45 CST on Saturday morning, and I highly encourage you to take advantage of that service.

Elsewhere in the Championship this weekend, Barnsley welcomes Ipswich to Oakwell for a relegation six-pointer, fourth-place Middlesborough faces a potential banana skin as it visits an old Barclays Premier League foe in Reading at the Madjeski Stadium, and Cardiff hopes to boost its standing within the play-off places as the Bluebirds travel to face Watford at Vicarage Road.

League One: Charlton’s visit to Leeds will likely hog most of the attention that England’s third flight receives this weekend, but there are some other very tasty matchups to be had further down the league table on Saturday.  For one, four meets six as Colchester United welcomes Huddersfield Town to Essex for what very well could be a preview of what we might see in the promotion play-offs this season.  Another possible play-off preview might be taking place on Saturday at Griffin Park, with eighth-place Swindon Town coming to West London for a meeting with 10th-place Brentford.

Elsewhere, Bristol Rovers welcomes a resurgent Norwich City to the Memorial Stadium, Milton Keynes Dons could go fourth in the league table with a win away to struggling Brighton and Hove Albion, and Leyton Orient makes the short jaunt o Buckinghamshire to face relegation rival Wycombe Wanderers.

League Two: Bournemouth, holders of perhaps the safest lead atop any of the divisions in the Football League so far this season, could go seven points clear this weekend, provided that the Cherries can successfully navigate their visit to Port Vale on Saturday and second-place Rochdale trips up at Burton Albion.  Manager Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth side has to like its chances there: Port Vale have been nothing special so far this season, and, for a team that has just come up from the Conference, Burton Albion has done reasonably well to reach midtable in what’s been the Brewers’ first taste of league football.

Also going on in League Two on Saturday, third-place Dagenham & Redbridge visits Hereford United, crisis club Accrington Stanley travels to face Chesterfield at Saltergate, and upstart Aldershot Town hopes to improve its standing in the play-off places as it visits a Lincoln City side that currently finds itself only two points above the relegation zone.

Matthew Semisch