Coventry have lost four straight league games without scoring, but the first four weeks of their Premier League season do not read like a total attacking collapse. Coventry have been beaten by Arsenal, Manchester City, Brighton and Hull City, and the chance profile is better than the points column suggests. xG data says they should have scored four already, and the xGOT figure rises to five.

Coventry's early numbers

The blunt fact is still ugly. Coventry have taken zero points from those four matches, and they have not scored in any of them. [Frank Lampard] said after the Brighton defeat: "We went one down from a moment of quality. Welcome to the Premier League."

That line fits the broader picture around the start. Coventry were handed four of the current top five, with the top two away from home, so the fixture list has been heavy from the opening whistle. There is a fair argument that the results have been harsher than the performances alone would suggest, but the team still has to turn decent positions into goals.

Jack Rudoni sums up part of the problem. He has had five shots and created eight chances without a goal contribution, and only three Premier League players have had more shot involvements without scoring or assisting. Coventry are getting runners into the right areas, they are just not finishing enough of them.

Forest offer a chance, not an excuse

Nottingham Forest are hardly a comfortable opponent to dismiss, but this is not a fixture Coventry can ignore. Forest are 18th in the Premier League on 0 points and are yet to score a league goal at home this season.

That gives Coventry a real opening to stop the run, even if the broader concern remains the same. The attack has shown enough to avoid panic, but the lack of a goal, combined with the physical test of the division, is already forcing Lampard's side to deal with a sharper edge than they faced in the Championship.

The Forest game will not settle the season, but it does give Coventry a straightforward target: score once, and the conversation changes quickly.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →