Seven points separate the top 15 sides after eight games in the Championship, and that is the sort of spread that keeps the table feeling unsettled this early. Swansea lead it with 17 points, while Burnley are bottom with four and no wins. The gap is tight enough that a couple of results can flip the order quickly.
Swansea at the top, Burnley at the bottom
Swansea's 17-point start is the best opening block in the league, but it does not buy much comfort when the chasing pack is still packed together. Burnley's start is the other side of the same story. Eight games, four points and no wins leave them with a poor opening stretch already on the board.
BBC Sport described the first eight-game block as the right point to judge how unsettled the league already is, and that feels right here. QPR and Stoke City sit inside a table that has very little room between the top and the rest, which is why one bad week can change the mood fast.
The goals have come quickly
The league has also been full of goals. There have been 277 already, with 47 coming from crosses and 44 of those finished by headers. Nine more have come from throw-ins, so wide delivery and set pieces are doing real work in the opening block.
BBC Sport put that down to more direct play and quality on the flanks, and the numbers back up the shape of the goals so far. That does not mean the whole season will stay this open or this aerial, but it does explain why the opening month has felt so loose. Burnley's no-win start sits next to that scoring volume and makes the early table look even less settled.
The next checkpoint is whether Swansea can keep that 17-point pace while Burnley try to end their winless start in the next round of fixtures.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
