What have we learned from the tournament so far?

Coventry are five points clear and are effectively six points clear in the promotion race after 15 games, such is their superior goal difference.

Teams have started fast and faded many times, but the Sky Blues look different, with a combination of defensive stability, incredible attacking threat and tenacity that has seen them score the most goals, and boast the best goal difference, at this stage of the season ever.

It was on 28 November 2024, when Frank Lampard was appointed to succeed Mark Robins as City coach, with the club sitting in 17th place and just two points above the relegation zone.

Lampard has supervised 44 league matches since then, winning 26, drawing eight and losing 10, to score 86 points.

The average points for teams that have secured promotion from League One to the Premier League is 89, although Hull City were automatically promoted in 2013 with 79 points.

A return of 1.95 points per game is the best of Lampard’s managerial career at any club, and if they continue to do what they have been doing over the past 12 months, the club will be on course for 94 points.

If they maintain their form from the start of this season, they will be on course for 104 points – just two short of Reading’s Championship record set in 2005-06.

After 15 matches, Coventry had scored 40 goals and had a goal difference of +27 – both records since the Championship was renamed 21 years ago.

Goalkeeper Carl Rushworth’s seven clean sheets are the most clean in the division, while only Stoke and Charlton have conceded fewer than City’s 13.

Brandon Thomas Asante has 10 goals, Haji Wright eight, and Viktor Torp six – this trio alone have more goals than the 21 clubs in the division.

They had seven other players on the scoresheet in the tournament as well, one of whom, Ellis Sims, quietly established himself as the sub-number one player in the division.

However, there are a couple of points to consider, which could quiet some of the noise: As for the current line-up of the division, they have only played four teams in the top ten – beating Stoke, Millwall, Derby and drawing with Hull.

They have Middlesbrough, Charlton (twice), Ipswich (twice), Bristol City and Preston North End among the next group of 10 games until New Year’s Day, which should provide a greater insight into where this team stands.

They are also outperforming their expected goals, both for and against, scoring 40 points to 31.1 and conceding 13 points to 15.0, suggesting that some decline is possible, if not likely.