Is the gap narrowing between the top of the Championship and the bottom of the Premier League? It is tempting to believe that is the case after seeing the three promoted clubs hit the ground running for the second successive season, acclimatising to life in the top flight with such confidence that one player has offered to take drastic action if relegation is not averted. "If there are not three worse teams than us in the league this season, I will shoot myself in the head," Garry Monk, the Swansea City defender, said earlier this week.
Whether those words come back to haunt Monk remains to be seen but for the moment Swansea, Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers are entitled to believe there is nothing to fear in the Premier League. Their collective total of 33 points at this stage has only been surpassed on two occasions in the past decade: West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United and Blackpool had 36 points last year, and in the 2008-09 campaign Phil Brown's Hull City distorted the figures by picking up 20 points on their own to climb to third place.
With two of the three promoted clubs staying up in each of the past three seasons, it feels as if there is a trend emerging whereby the Premier League's new entrants are no longer the cannon fodder the bookmakers and media have long thought them to be. Whether that is down to Championship clubs improving and approaching the top flight with bolder tactics or standards dropping among two thirds of the Premier League – there is a school of thought that, outside of the top six, the division is particularly weak this season – is a matter of conjecture.
It is, of course, early days to be making judgments on the fortunes of the three promoted clubs. The rollercoaster experiences of Albion, Newcastle and Blackpool last term, never mind the cringeworthy image of Brown lecturing his players on the pitch at Manchester City three years ago, when Hull's campaign started to unravel, provide reminders of how quickly things can change. The Premier League can be an unforgiving environment to work in as Tony Mowbray, the Middlesbrough manager who was in charge of the Albion side that was relegated in 2009, knows all too well.
"I took an expansive passing philosophy into the Premier League with West Brom, we didn't survive but I still totally believe there is no other way to go and do it," Mowbray says. "OK, you can say Stoke did it another way but they've built on it and diluted it [by bringing in players such as Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant]. My belief is that, in the Premier League, if you keep giving the ball back to the opposition the opposition will be so good they'll score in the end. You must keep the ball, expand yourselves and ask questions of the opposition."
It is easy to imagine Brendan Rodgers, the Swansea manager, nodding his head at Mowbray's sentiments. Only Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal have made more passes than Swansea this season, which is a remarkable statistic at first glance, although the figures do not look quite so impressive when you delve a little deeper and realise that they are the only Premier League club to have made more passes in their own half than the opposition's. It is hard to fault Rodgers' principles but a little less possession and a bit more penetration would appear to be in need.
Norwich have made the most eye-catching start. Despite already travelling to Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, they are eighth. On the face of it, they have a lot of similarities to the promoted Reading side that finished eighth under Steve Coppell in 2007. Of the 13 players that featured in the 1-1 draw at Liverpool on Saturday, only Leon Barnett had made more than one Premier League appearance at the start of the season. In other words, Paul Lambert's squad is replete with players who have a point to prove after working their way up the leagues.
QPR's position in the table feels like less of a surprise. Neil Warnock was eventually given the funds to bring in proven Premier League performers to complement those that were part of the side that won the Championship. Their form has been erratic – they have been thumped by Fulham and Bolton but defeated Chelsea and Everton – and goals have been hard to come by – only Wigan have managed fewer – yet there is enough talent within their ranks to secure survival, especially if Warnock can get through to Adel Taarabt that the season has started.
It is 10 years since all three promoted clubs stayed up, and if that were to happen again this season it would strengthen the belief that the relationship between the Premier League and Championship is genuinely changing. Mowbray, however, predicts the chasm will soon reappear. "Generally the clubs who spend the most finish highest and, due to the new financial fair play rules, a lot of Championship clubs are downsizing at the moment," he says. "Salaries of Championship teams will come down dramatically in the next few years, so people will need to punch above their weight. But as Norwich and, last season, Blackpool have shown, punching above your weight is not impossible."
