Three clubs have stormed through the opening fortnight of the Championship without dropping a point. Burnley, Leeds United and West Ham United each hold spotless records of five wins from five, a shared run of form that has injected early intrigue into what is already shaping up as a bruising promotion race.
All three have collected 15 points and conceded sparingly, though the manner of their success varies. Burnley have leaned on defensive solidity, Leeds on high-tempo pressing, West Ham on set-piece precision. What they share is momentum and the knowledge that even a single slip now could end the unblemished start.
Athletico streak continues in Brazil
Across the Atlantic, Athletico are matching that intensity in the Brasileirão Serie B. Five straight wins, 15 points banked, and a growing sense that the club's push for promotion is gathering real force. The contrasting rhythms of Brazilian and English football matter little when the results column reads the same.
Manchester City, meanwhile, have dispatched five Carabao Cup opponents without conceding a goal, while a cluster of sides, including Borussia Mönchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt and Coleraine FC, have posted identical sequences in pre-competitive fixtures. But it is the trio from the Championship, operating under the unforgiving weekly glare of league football, who have captured the wider attention. One of them will crack eventually. The question is when, and whether the other two can capitalise.