With most sides having completed their opening three matches of the new season, BBC Final Score pundit Sam Parkin gives his takeaways from across the EFL on some of the early high flyers and strugglers. Charlton finished 19th in the Championship in 2025-2026 after coming up from League One the previous season, so does three successive wins suggest the Addicks are ready to 'kick-on'? Parkin: "I'm sure if you offered Nathan Jones and the most ardent of supporters a mid-table finish now, they'd snap your hand off for it.
So, I don't think anyone will be getting carried away. "I think that first season is always about staying in the division, being defensively strong. The majority of their victories last season were by narrow margins - like today.
"I think they look a bit more attacking this season. He played a wing-back system before, and they they look like they're playing with wingers this season, which is a bit more attack-minded. "When they got promoted, they signed a lot of good lads from League One to try and make the step up with them to the Championship.
This summer I think there's been a slightly different tack there in terms of recruitment, with a lot more experience - like today's goalscorer Karlan Grant and Nathaniel Chalobah - coming to The Valley. "There's definitely slight differences in the way that they're setting up, and the style". Charlton maintain 100% start against lowly Preston Swansea have had three successive mid-table finishes in the Championship, but Saturday's 3-0 win at Derby continued their flying start to 2025-2026 with seven points from three games so far: Parkin: "Despite the manager (Victor Matos) being there last year, I think they were probably a little bit unknown coming into the season.
"They had a really interesting summer in terms of the players they signed, bringing in Celtic defender Stephen Welsh, and today's first scorer - Ghana winger Joseph Opoku - from Belgium. "So, I think they're quite forward thinking in the way that they go about signing players, and and the one thing about Swansea is you that, give or take, you know the way they are going to play. It's always quite a stylish brand of football.
"I think they've had a terrific start, but I'm not sure they'll have the consistency to be challenging the higher echelons of the division, but now that the play-offs are extended to six teams, they could look to maybe make one of those positions. "The other side of the coin is obviously Derby are winless and it was probably a good time to play Derby, with their injuries and the frustrations over the takeover not happening." Burnley agreed to part company with former Championship-winning manager Scott Parker in the summer, and bring in former Genk boss Nicky Hayen - but they are yet to win in the league: Parkin: "It's the case with all the relegated sides that you have to give them a little bit of time to acclimatize. There might be some in the dressing room who don't see themselves as being second-tier footballers.
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