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The opening weeks of the Championship season have delivered plenty of goals and a series of surprise results - and if that pattern continues, this could be a truly memorable campaign.

The Championship is regularly described as the most competitive and unpredictable league in world football. But that has not always held true.

Parachute payments have often tilted the balance towards clubs relegated from the Premier League - and in each of the last six seasons, at least one of the two automatic promotion spots has been taken by a team that had been in the top flight the previous year.

That pattern may continue this season, but it no longer feels inevitable, while both the play-off race and the relegation scrap also look fascinating. Put simply, this could be the most authentic Championship season in quite some time.

Last season’s Championship set a very high bar. Coventry City won the title to return to the Premier League after a 25-year absence, Hull City came through the play-offs despite beginning the season among the favourites for relegation, and Leicester City suffered a shock second successive relegation.

What is more, the teams that dropped from the Premier League were not as overpowering as they had been in earlier years. Ipswich Town were the only one of those three sides to go back up, finishing second behind Coventry, and their tally of 84 points brought to an end a run of five straight seasons in which one of the three relegated clubs reached at least 90 points in their first year back in the Championship.

At the same time, all three teams promoted from League One - Birmingham City, Wrexham and Charlton Athletic - survived, making it the third consecutive year in which that has happened. Even so, this season is already shaping up to be better still.

If goals are what you are after, there have already been plenty. Before Wednesday night’s fixtures, the league average stood at 2.89 goals per game, which is higher than the average across any full 46-match Championship season over the past 20 years. That is largely because several teams have looked excellent going forward but far less convincing defensively. More on that shortly.

Meanwhile, the old saying that anyone can beat anyone in the Championship feels more accurate than ever. Some sides have produced wildly inconsistent results, including Charlton winning away at West Ham United but then losing 4-0 at Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers shocking Middlesbrough before then being beaten by a Preston North End side that had previously failed to register a point, and Millwall defeating Bristol City, Norwich City and Bolton Wanderers by a combined 9-0 scoreline, only to lose to Southampton and Wrexham by an aggregate of 8-1.

Wherever you look, the division feels unpredictable. Starting at the top, none of the early promotion contenders have separated themselves from the rest during the first four weeks of the season.

That includes the three teams relegated from the Premier League last season. West Ham and Wolverhampton Wanderers are still expected to challenge strongly for automatic promotion, but neither side currently looks capable of running away with the title in the manner Coventry did last season.

The Hammers did not win any of their first three matches, then responded by scoring 10 goals in back-to-back victories over Wolves, Derby County and Bolton. Even so, in that last game they had to recover from being 2-1 behind to beat one of the sides widely viewed as among the weaker teams in the division. Wolves, meanwhile, saw 23 goals scored across their first five games, with 10 of those conceded.

Then there is Burnley. The Clarets had reached 100 points in each of their previous two seasons at this level, yet they are second from bottom after failing to win any of their opening six matches. Improvement should come, and the arrival of Jamie Vardy adds another layer of intrigue, but right now they are some way short of the standard needed to secure promotion.

That has created an opening for others. Of the three clubs beaten in the play-offs last season, Middlesbrough appear the best placed to mount a challenge. After dropping so many points last season because of poor finishing, they now seem to have found a scorer in Will Lankshear, while their strong underlying metrics had them top of the Expected Points table after five matches, based on Expected Goals for and against. And for those less interested in xG and xPTS, they were also second in the actual table.

Last season’s beaten play-off semi-finalists, Millwall and Southampton, have also started well and should be in the promotion mix once again, despite the Lions’ chaotic run of scorelines.

A number of dark horses are also beginning to emerge. Swansea City were top of the table after five matches, and that was no accident: since head coach Vitor Matos took charge last November, they have averaged 1.61 points per game - a rate that equates to play-off form over a 46-match season.

Queens Park Rangers, Bristol City, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton are among the other early front-runners, and this is an ideal moment for an outsider to launch a promotion push because of one of the Championship’s most debated changes in 2026/27.

This season, the play-offs have been expanded from four teams to six, meaning the side that finishes eighth will now make the end-of-season promotion battle. The decision has not been welcomed by everyone, but it does mean more clubs are likely to remain in contention for the play-offs deep into the campaign, reducing the number of meaningless matches.

Given how tightly packed the Championship table often becomes as the season progresses, it is entirely possible that a team sitting 15th with five games left could still have a realistic chance of either going up or going down. That brings the focus to the fight at the bottom.

Lincoln City were widely expected to go straight back down after their surprise League One title success, but they have adjusted well to the level, collecting five points from their last three matches and pushing Middlesbrough hard on the opening day.

There is arguably more concern around the other two promoted sides, Cardiff City and Bolton, but while all three clubs are likely to be involved in the relegation battle, they have shown enough so far to suggest they will not be left behind.

Of course, plenty can still change, but if the season carries on in this fashion, supporters could be in for a genuine title race, unexpected promotion challengers, a crowded play-off contest and a tense battle for survival.

If all of that happens, then this really will go down as one of the finest Championship seasons of all time.