Early Tremors in the EFL Championship: Key Insights
Four games in, the Championship table is still wet paint, but the first brushstrokes already matter.
Charlton’s fast start might feel like a nice August story now; by March it could be the cushion that keeps them out of the relegation trench. Ten points from four is gold dust in a division that chews up momentum and spits it out by Christmas.
Swansea look sharp, organised and confident, matching that 10-point haul and setting an early standard. QPR sit alongside them, also on 10, a reminder that this league loves an early flyer almost as much as it loves a late collapse. Recent seasons have shown how quickly good beginnings can unravel here.
West Ham stumbled out of the blocks in their first three matches, then snapped into gear with a convincing win over Wolves. That performance underlined why they still carry the weight of expectation as favourites for automatic promotion. When they click, they look a level above.
Behind the leading trio, Wolves, Boro, Bristol City, West Brom and Birmingham are all tucked into the early top eight, clustered between seven and six points. It’s too tight, too early, to draw lines between contenders and pretenders, but the pattern is forming.
At the other end, the alarm bells are already ringing. Preston have opened with four defeats from four, rooted to the bottom without a point. Burnley, still searching for a first win, sit just above them on two points, while Stoke hover on three. No one gets relegated in September, but a bad start in this league has a habit of dragging you into a season-long fight.
Top eight after four games:
- 1. Swansea – 10 pts
- 2. QPR – 10 pts
- 3. Charlton – 10 pts
- 4. Wolves – 7 pts
- 5. Boro – 7 pts
- 6. Bristol City – 7 pts
- 7. West Brom – 7 pts
- 8. Birmingham – 6 pts
Bottom three:
- 22. Stoke City – 3 pts
- 23. Burnley – 2 pts
- 24. Preston NE – 0 pts
No European football. No Thursday-Sunday grind. For Tottenham, September offers something rare: clarity.
Roberto De Zerbi has a mostly settled squad now, with only the uncertainty around Richarlison’s future still hanging in the air. With just four fixtures on the men’s side this month, every game carries weight, every dropped point stings that bit more.
Spurs showed flashes against Newcastle last week but came away with nothing. That can’t keep happening. This is the stretch where they need to bank points before a far rougher October arrives.
Tottenham Hotspur men’s schedule:
- Forest (5 September)
- Everton (12 September)
- at Liverpool – EFL Cup (15 September)
- Villa (19 September)
Forest and Everton offer the chance to build rhythm and confidence in the league. The trip to Anfield in the EFL Cup is a different kind of test: hostile, high profile, and a sharp measure of how quickly De Zerbi’s ideas are bedding in. Villa at the end of the month will say plenty about where Spurs sit in the pack.
On the women’s side, a new chapter begins.
The Tottenham Hotspur women’s team open their season this weekend against West Ham, then head to Liverpool and Crystal Palace. Big personalities and big talents have gone, with Beth England and Molly Bartrip among the notable departures. The squad looks different. The questions are obvious.
Tottenham Hotspur women’s 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)
Two meetings with West Ham in quick succession, league and cup, will set the tone. By the time they walk off the pitch at Brighton at the end of the month, we’ll have a much clearer idea of what this new-look Spurs side actually is: rebuilding quietly, or ready to surprise people.
The numbers say it all. More than £300 million spent to tear into a squad that flirted with disaster last season. Tottenham’s hierarchy didn’t just back their manager; they handed De Zerbi a toolbox and told him to rebuild the house.
Big names have gone. Cristian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario headed the list of departures, stripping away two pillars of the spine. In their place, Spurs moved aggressively.
Mateus Fernandes stands out as a flagship arrival, a signing that signals ambition as much as it adds quality. Marcos Senesi and Andy Robertson arriving on free transfers looks like astute, opportunistic business – experience and pedigree without a fee attached.
Then came the premium outlay on Savio, a winger brought in to inject directness and creativity out wide. Omar Marmoush adds another attacking option, a player who could quietly become a key piece if he settles quickly.
The most intriguing move might be Mykhailo Mudryk. On paper, the fit is unclear. The fee, the profile, the inconsistency: it all raises questions. Can De Zerbi unlock the explosive talent that has only appeared in flashes so far? And if he does, what does that mean for Spurs in the long term, structurally and financially?
Sandro Tonali’s arrival underlines the scale of the rebuild. A midfielder of his calibre and presence changes the feel of the team. On paper, this is a window that transforms Spurs from a side scrambling for survival into one that should be looking upwards again.
Not everything hit the mark.
Letting Will Lankshear leave looks a gamble. There was a pathway there: develop him through loans, test him gradually, keep the option alive. Spurs have protected themselves with a sell-on clause, but it still feels like a door closed too early.
The goalkeeping situation also leaves doubts. Martin Dubravka does not look like a genuine long-term challenger to Antonin Kinsky, and Kinsky himself remains an open question. This was a summer where Spurs could have reset the position decisively. They didn’t. It feels like a missed chance.
Even so, the overall picture is clear: this was an assertive, expensive, and largely coherent window.
Fitzie’s transfer window rating: B+.
The squad is stronger, deeper, and unmistakably shaped in De Zerbi’s image. The money has been spent, the statements have been made. Now the season will answer the only question that matters: can he turn this bold rebuild into something that actually wins?
