Often touted as the world’s toughest football league, English Championship had kicked off with a lot of excitement for the first couple of rounds of games. After four games the league table looks as curious as ever as few favorites have struggled and some unlikely clubs have risen to the occasion. Plenty of football is yet to be played, but the early on prediction is that the league is once again extremely evenly matched and unpredictable.
Entering the new season the biggest favorites to win or to get promoted were, unsurprisingly, the clubs relegated from the Premier League. Watford, Norwich and Bournemouth were all among the favorites to win it all, but it has not been a walk in the park for all the favorites. While Bournemouth and Watford have performed relatively well, being third and seventh in the league respectively, Norwich and last season’s promotion playoff finalists Brentford have been underachieving heavily. Norwich has only gathered four points in four games, while Brenford boasts similar record, pushing both teams to the bottom half of the league.
Remarkably, only four teams out of the 10 pre-season favorites feature in the current top 10; along with Bournemouth and Watford, fourth placed Swansea and tenth placed Middlesbrough have started decently. The biggest disappointments are likely to be Nottingham, who are at zero points and one goal scored in four games and Derby County, with single win to their name.
The top of the league is manned by extremely unusual suspects. Still undefeated, Bristol City and Reading share the throne with 12 points in four games. No one expected the teams to have such a flying start to the season as many expected them to feature safely in the mid-table. Not too many conclusions can be drawn from the early season, but it is certain that the favorites need to get their act together sooner rather than later in order not to fall too far behind in the extremely competitive league.
English Championship returns to action after the international break on the October 16th with a high-octane fixture between Derby and Watford after which the full round will commence during the weekend.
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