Leicester edged out Sunderland 1-0 to record an eighth successive league victory that put them eight points clear at the top of the Championship. James Justin’s first-half header was enough to separate the sides after he headed home Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 12th-minute corner, his first league goal for the club in more than two years. The Foxes had twice hit the post in the first half and passed up a number of chances to add to their lead but it did not matter as Sunderland slumped to a third consecutive defeat, missing a late chance to grab a point when Abdoullah Ba skied over late on. Second-placed Ipswich have two games in hand on the leaders, the first at Bristol City on Wednesday. West Brom moved back into the top six with a 2-0 win over 10-man QPR that piled the pressure on Gareth Ainsworth. Grady Diangana was at the centre of affairs, winning the 59th-minute penalty from which Brandon Thomas-Asante put West Brom ahead and for which Jimmy Dunne earned a second yellow card for protesting against, and then making sure of the win nine minutes later. It was a fifth straight defeat for QPR, who had arrived at the Hawthorns late to force a 10-minute delay to kick-off. Cardiff are up to sixth after thrashing Huddersfield 4-0, ending a run in which they had taken only one point from three games in emphatic style. The Bluebirds needed only 90 seconds to take the lead as Josh Bowler pulled the ball back for Callum Robinson to finish with a backheel that took a deflection off Matty Pearson. Dimitrios Goutas was left unmarked to double the lead in the 12th minute, heading in Joe Ralls’ corner. Yakou Meité then made it three just before the interval as he slammed home confidently after Huddersfield failed to clear another Ralls corner. And Perry Ng curled in a 55th-minute free-kick after Robinson was fouled. Middlesbrough are level on points with Cardiff in seventh after a 2-1 win over Norwich at Carrow Road, their sixth consecutive league win. Sam Greenwood opened the scoring in the first minute of the second half and substitute Sammy Silvera had a second in stoppage time, albeit with enough time remaining for Jonathan Rowe to pull one back for the hosts. Blackburn sit just one point off the playoff places after Callum Brittain’s first goal for the club helped them to a 2-1 win over managerless Millwall at the Den. The London club had led when Wes Harding headed home just three minutes in, a moment Rovers goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt will not want to see again, but a goalkeeping mistake at the other end allowed Blackburn to level in the 22nd minute as Joe Rankin-Costello’s shot squirmed under Bartosz Bialkowski. Brittain then got what proved to be the winner six minutes into the second half after being played into space by James Hill, bending a shot into the top corner. Ken Sema’s first goal of the season was enough for Watford to earn a 1-0 win over Swansea. Sema hit a powerful shot eight minutes from time to lift the Hornets away from the relegation zone.