There is a difference between going top of the Championship and deserving to go top of the Championship. Middlesbrough did both on Friday night, thrashing Bolton Wanderers 5-1 in a performance so complete that even a former Bolton manager was moved to call their opponents "the best team in the Championship".

The result itself is the headline. The numbers behind it are the argument.

What the statistics actually say

Middlesbrough registered 31 shots across the 90 minutes, 19 of them arriving in the first half alone. Twelve of those 31 were on target. Their expected goals (xG) figure for the match came to 4.16, which, for those unfamiliar with the measure, is a model-based estimate of how many goals a team should score given the location and type of each attempt. A figure above 4.0 represents a genuinely dominant attacking display, not just a lucky night in front of goal.

They scored five. Bolton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu kept it from being more. That is not a caveat that softens Boro's performance; it is one that amplifies it.

To be clear about what xG does not tell us: it does not account for the quality of the movement that created the chance, nor the defensive structure that allowed Middlesbrough to cycle through attacks so freely. It is a useful filter, not a complete picture. But when the xG, the shot volume and the scoreline all point in the same direction, the case becomes hard to dismiss.

Lankshear: the division's leading marksman

Will Lankshear scored twice to take his Championship tally to 11 goals in 12 league games. He now has 13 in all competitions this season and sits four goals clear at the top of the second-tier scoring charts. Boro signed the 21-year-old from Tottenham for an initial £10m in July; at his current rate, that fee looks increasingly modest.

What makes Lankshear difficult to contain, according to former Middlesbrough midfielder Neil Maddison on BBC Radio Tees, is precisely the variety in his movement. "He is changing up his runs, coming deep, and he is getting better and better as the season goes on," Maddison said. Lankshear himself pointed to the width provided by Tommy Conway and Amario Cozier-Duberry as giving him the room to operate centrally: "I just had to get in the box and tap it in."

That is, of course, something of an understatement. Getting into the right position, at the right moment, consistently, is the part of a striker's craft that rarely photographs well. Lankshear is doing it as reliably as anyone in this division.

Boro's promotion credentials: tested and restated

Middlesbrough now have 25 points after 12 games, an identical return to their tally at the same stage last season. The parallel is worth noting with caution as well as optimism. Last term, Kim Hellberg's side went on a six-match winning run that lifted them to the top of the table in early February, only to win four of their final 15 league matches. They finished fifth and reached the play-off final, only to lose to Hull after a complicated sequence of events involving Southampton's expulsion for spying.

The question of whether this Boro side can sustain a promotion push is not settled by one emphatic win, however eye-catching. What Friday night does confirm is that the ceiling is there. Former Bolton boss Keith Hill, working as a pundit for BBC Radio Manchester, was unambiguous: "If that is the bar in this league then they will finish in the top two."

That is the sort of verdict that carries more weight coming from someone with no vested interest in Boro's success.

A difficult evening for Bolton, but context matters

Bolton had beaten Wolverhampton Wanderers and drawn away at Southampton in their two previous matches, so this was not a side stumbling into the fixture on poor form. They simply ran into a Middlesbrough performance that Maddison described as "without question, the best under Kim Hellberg." On a night like that, the scoreline is less a measure of Bolton's failings than a measure of how good Boro were.

Hellberg acknowledged as much afterwards, giving his opponents credit for their own attacking intent before explaining that his side simply executed their gameplan with unusual precision. Whether Middlesbrough can maintain that level across the remaining months of the season is the central question of their campaign. Friday night made a forceful opening argument.

Frequently asked

How many goals has Will Lankshear scored this season for Middlesbrough?
Lankshear has scored 13 goals in all competitions for Middlesbrough this season, including 11 in 12 Championship matches, making him the division's top scorer by four goals.
Where are Middlesbrough in the Championship table?
Middlesbrough sit top of the Championship after 12 games, having accumulated 25 points following their 5-1 win over Bolton.
What happened to Middlesbrough in last season's play-offs?
Middlesbrough reached the play-off final last season but lost to Hull City. They were initially eliminated before being reinstated after Southampton were expelled from the play-offs for spying.