EFL Championship Early Standings: Swansea, QPR, and Charlton Shine

Four games in, the EFL Championship table is already starting to take shape, even if the patterns are still faint.

Swansea have come flying out of the blocks. So have QPR. Charlton too. All three sit on 10 points, and while no one gets promoted in September, that kind of start usually feels very different when the relegation fight tightens in spring. Charlton, especially, may look back on this burst of form as priceless breathing room.

Swansea look slick and confident. QPR have that familiar early-season energy that this league has a habit of chewing up by Christmas, but for now they’re in the slipstream at the top. Behind them, Wolves, Boro, Bristol City, West Brom and Birmingham make up a congested top eight, all within four points of first place.

West Ham, tipped as automatic promotion favourites, stumbled through their opening three fixtures. Then came Wolves. A convincing win, the kind that reminds everyone why they were fancied in the first place and suggests the early wobble might already be over.

At the other end, the alarm bells are louder.

Preston North End have lost four from four. No points. No momentum. Burnley, still winless, have only two points to show for their efforts. Stoke City sit just above them on three, clinging to the edge of safety in these first weeks.

Top eight:

• Swansea – 10 pts
• QPR – 10 pts
• Charlton – 10 pts
• Wolves – 7 pts
• Boro – 7 pts
• Bristol City – 7 pts
• West Brom – 7 pts
• Birmingham – 6 pts

Bottom three:

• Stoke City – 3 pts
• Burnley – 2 pts
• Preston NE – 0 pts

No one wins or loses a season in August. But the groundwork, good and bad, is already being laid.

Tottenham head into September with one advantage many of their rivals would kill for: no European football. No Thursday nights, no long-haul midweeks. Just league games and a single domestic cup tie. A clean runway.

Roberto De Zerbi now works with a largely settled squad, with only Richarlison’s future still hanging in the air. The schedule is light, but the stakes are heavy. This month has to bring points, because October will not be kind.

Spurs’ men face four fixtures:

• Forest (5 September)
• Everton (12 September)
• at Liverpool – EFL Cup (15 September)
• Villa (19 September)

The performance against Newcastle offered hints of what De Zerbi wants this team to be, but they still walked away with nothing. That can’t keep happening. Forest and Everton look like the kind of games a side with top-six ambitions must control. The trip to Anfield in the EFL Cup is a test of depth and nerve. Villa at home will show exactly where Spurs sit in the Premier League food chain.

The women’s side step into their own new chapter.

They open against West Ham this weekend, then travel to Liverpool and Palace before a busy end to the month that includes League Cup ties. It’s a fresh-looking squad after some major departures: Beth England and Molly Bartrip have both moved on, stripping away experience and personality from the dressing room.

Their schedule:

• West Ham (6 September)
• at Liverpool (13 September)
• at Palace (20 September)
• West Ham – League Cup (23 September)
• Villa (27 September)
• at Brighton – League Cup (30 September)

It’s a demanding start for a team in transition. The question is simple: what can this new-look Spurs side actually be?

The numbers tell the story before anyone else does. Tottenham spent more than £300 million this summer. That’s not tinkering. That’s a reset.

The club hierarchy have backed De Zerbi aggressively after a season that flirted with disaster. Big names left – Cristian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario among them – but the incoming business screams intent.

Mateus Fernandes stands out as the headline arrival, a statement that Spurs are shopping at the top end of the market. Marcos Senesi and Andy Robertson arriving on free transfers looks shrewd, the kind of low-cost, high-impact business that good windows are built on.

Then there’s Savio. Spurs paid the premium to get him, banking on his quality to lift the attack from the flanks. Omar Marmoush feels like a clever addition too, the sort of player who can quietly become essential if he settles quickly.

The wild card is Mykhailo Mudryk. On paper, it’s a puzzling move. The talent is obvious; the output so far, less so. Can De Zerbi unlock him? And if he does, what does that mean for Spurs in the long term, given the nature of the deal? Those are questions that won’t be answered in one autumn.

Sandro Tonali is another heavyweight signing, adding steel and class in midfield. Put it all together and, on paper, this is a very strong window. The squad looks deeper, more balanced, more aligned with De Zerbi’s ideas.

But there are blemishes.

Letting Will Lankshear go feels like a misstep. There was a path where he developed through smart loans while Spurs protected his value. A decent sell-on clause softens the blow, but only slightly if he explodes elsewhere.

The goalkeeper situation also raises eyebrows. Martin Dubravka doesn’t look like a genuine threat to Antonin Kinsky’s place, and there’s still no real confidence that Kinsky is the long-term answer. This felt like the moment to upgrade decisively between the posts. Spurs didn’t take it.

Even with those concerns, the overall picture is positive.

Fitzie’s transfer window rating: B+

Now it’s over to De Zerbi. With this level of backing, there are no more excuses.