Five weeks into the Championship season and two clubs have separated themselves from the early noise at the top of the table. West Ham and Swansea sit first and second on goal difference, and the question is no longer whether their starts are flukes, but how far each can go.

West Ham: a squad finally firing together

The 6-0 dismantling of Wrexham on Friday was the moment West Ham's constituent parts clicked into place. Four wins on the spin have taken them to the summit, and the goals column reads 20 in just seven games. That is not a side running hot by accident; it is a squad of genuine Championship quality operating at close to full efficiency.

Pundit Sam Parkin, speaking on BBC Final Score, identified the transfer window closing as a turning point. With Manor Solomon, Jarrod Bowen, Valentin Castellanos and Joel Piroe all confirmed members of the squad, the attacking combinations can finally be rehearsed rather than guessed at. Bowen said as much after the final whistle on Friday: certainty over personnel has freed the forward line to express itself.

Parkin was careful not to read too much into Wrexham's collapse, but he was unambiguous about the bigger picture. "It's looking pretty ominous already for the rest of the Championship when you consider the amount of goals they've scored across the last four games," he said. Early in the campaign, defensive lapses were papered over by an attack that outscored its own mistakes. That imbalance has since tightened. When both ends of the pitch operate together, the gap between West Ham and their rivals widens quickly.

For Championship rivals plotting how to stop them, the problem is plural: there is no single threat to neutralise. Suppress Bowen and Castellanos finds space. Crowd Piroe and Solomon stretches the back line. At full tilt this side causes havoc, and seven games in, they are beginning to look like full tilt is their default setting.

Swansea: four clean sheets and a new identity

Vitor Matos has built something at Swansea that surprised even close observers. Saturday's 3-1 win over Burnley was a fourth victory of the season, and the performance contained what has become the team's signature: goals at one end, a shut-out that nearly held at the other. Four clean sheets in seven games is a number that reframes perceptions of a club historically associated with possession and flair rather than defensive resolve.

Both strikers contributed against Burnley. Zan Vipotnik and Adam Idah sharing the scoring load matters because it removes the vulnerability that comes with dependence on one forward. Idah leads the club's scoring charts with three goals; Vipotnik is pressing him. That competition keeps both sharp and gives Matos options when opponents try to plan around one of them.

Parkin reserved particular praise for Stephen Welsh, the centre-half signed from Celtic. "He's really hit the ground running," Parkin said on Final Score, adding that the defensive unit is the platform everything else is built on. That is a conscious change from Swansea sides of recent memory, and it appears to be working.

The question of where this Swansea side can finish is already being asked. Parkin stopped short of automatic promotion as a realistic target but pointed to the expanded play-off format, which now stretches to eight clubs, as a genuine aim. "That would definitely be a realistic ambition for them," he said. With the foundations in place, a top-eight finish is not the ceiling of the ambition, merely the floor.

What the early table tells us

Two clubs sitting first and second after seven games can mean everything or nothing. In the Championship, form curves break and reset with regularity. But the evidence here is structural rather than circumstantial: West Ham's attacking depth is a function of squad investment, and Swansea's defensive solidity is a function of clear tactical identity. Both suggest durability rather than a hot streak.

The weeks ahead will test both. West Ham's defensive frailties have not fully disappeared, only been outscored; a run of tighter games will expose whether that has been corrected or merely disguised. Swansea face an increasingly competitive middle of the table as rivals begin to find their footing. September will be the first real indicator of whether this early position reflects where each club genuinely belongs.

For now, the top two look like they mean it.

Frequently asked

Why are West Ham top of the Championship?
West Ham have won their last four Championship matches and scored 20 goals in seven games. The closure of the transfer window allowed their attacking players, including Jarrod Bowen, Manor Solomon, Valentin Castellanos and Joel Piroe, to combine consistently, and a 6-0 win over Wrexham on Friday took them to the top of the table.
Where are Swansea City in the Championship table?
Swansea sit second in the Championship, behind West Ham on goal difference, after winning four of their first seven games. A 3-1 win over Burnley on Saturday was their latest result, with both strikers Zan Vipotnik and Adam Idah on the scoresheet.
Can Swansea City get promoted this season?
Pundit Sam Parkin considers automatic promotion unlikely but believes a top-eight finish and a play-off place is a realistic and genuine ambition for Swansea, given their strong defensive record of four clean sheets in seven games and the quality of their squad.