Are Charlton ready to challenge? - Sam Parkin's EFL takeaways

[BBC] With most sides having completed their opening three matches of the new season, BBC Final Score pundit Sam Parkin gives his takeaways from across the EFL on some of the early high flyers and strugglers. Impressive Charlton won't get carried away Nathan Jones' Charlton have beaten Derby, West Ham and Preston in the Championship [Getty Images] Charlton finished 19th in the Championship in 2025-2026 after coming up from League One the previous season, so does three successive wins suggest the Addicks are ready to 'kick-on'? Parkin: "I'm sure if you offered Nathan Jones and the most ardent of supporters a mid-table finish now, they'd snap your hand off for it. So, I don't think anyone will be getting carried away. "I think that first season is always about staying in the division, being defensively strong. The majority of their victories last season were by narrow margins - like today. "I think they look a bit more attacking this season. He played a wing-back system before, and they they look like they're playing with wingers this season, which is a bit more attack-minded. "When they got promoted, they signed a lot of good lads from League One to try and make the step up with them to the Championship. This summer I think there's been a slightly different tack there in terms of recruitment, with a lot more experience - like today's goalscorer Karlan Grant and Nathaniel Chalobah - coming to The Valley. "There's definitely slight differences in the way that they're setting up, and the style". Charlton maintain 100% start against lowly Preston Terrific start for 'stylish' Swansea Swansea have had three successive mid-table finishes in the Championship, but Saturday's 3-0 win at Derby continued their flying start to 2025-2026 with seven points from three games so far: Parkin: "Despite the manager (Victor Matos) being there last year, I think they were probably a little bit unknown coming into the season. "They had a really interesting summer in terms of the players they signed, bringing in Celtic defender Stephen Welsh, and today's first scorer - Ghana winger Joseph Opoku - from Belgium. "So, I think they're quite forward thinking in the way that they go about signing players, and and the one thing about Swansea is you that, give or take, you know the way they are going to play. It's always quite a stylish brand of football. "I think they've had a terrific start, but I'm not sure they'll have the consistency to be challenging the higher echelons of the division, but now that the play-offs are extended to six teams, they could look to maybe make one of those positions. "The other side of the coin is obviously Derby are winless and it was probably a good time to play Derby, with their injuries and the frustrations over the takeover not happening." Burnley need cohesion under Hayen New Burnley boss Nicky Hayen's side have yet to win in the Championship [Getty Images] Burnley agreed to part company with former Championship-winning manager Scott Parker in the summer, and bring in former Genk boss Nicky Hayen - but they are yet to win in the league: Parkin: "It's the case with all the relegated sides that you have to give them a little bit of time to acclimatize. I think that's natural. There might be some in the dressing room who don't see themselves as being second-tier footballers. "That's the reality, and some may still move before the window closes, so we won't know exactly what squad he'll be working with. But my sentiment with them is that they've got brilliant individuals, whoever sticks around, and I'm sure they'll be able to add as well in both the windows. "So they're going to be competitive in terms of the quality of players. It's just getting that cohesion, which may take a bit of time with a new manager. "Probably in contrast to West Ham and Wolves who I think have both got real goal power, I'm not sure I'm seeing the same kind of power in that area of the pitch for Burnley. "There's not a number of them that jump off the page that are going to guarantee a good return of goals. That would be my biggest question mark about them at the moment. "But as hard as it'll be for supporters to hear, I don't think it's any shame losing at Norwich, because Norwich are going to be right up there in my opinion this season. That's probably a given considering how well they finished last season under Philippe Clement." Wednesday in seventh heaven after pain The Owls finally saw new ownership take over the club this summer after a long battle, and beat Bromley 7-2 in front of 30,000 fans at Hillsbrough: Parkin: "Despite the pain of the past few years and the fans' uncertainty, they've got their club to go and support again, and albeit it's in the third tier, the attendances will be huge. "They never wavered their support really under very, very difficult ownership to put it lightly across the past few years. So there's a new dawn there. "The side played well against Bradford, certainly for 45 minutes in their maiden home game in the league this season, but just couldn't get the goal. "So to get those early goals today in the first half will have given them the belief to go on. They've got some really exciting young players and, despite them being in League One, with the size of that club, people want to go and play for you. "People will want to be on that journey. They'll want to play in front of a packed crowd every week, and the club name will sell itself. "They're going to be strong. I thought it'd probably take a little bit of time, but that will do them wonders today getting such a handsome victory at home." Salford owners will be scratching their heads Peter Cklamovski replaced Karl Robinson following Salford's play-off final defeat [Getty Images] Salford City finished eighth in 2024-2025, and then lost the 2025-2026 League Two play-of final, before sacking Karl Robinson. His successor, Peter Cklamovski, has lost his opening three league matches: Parkin: "If you were a fan, you'd have been really enthused again in the transfer window. Two names that jump out at me - Luke Molyneux, probably the best attacking player at Doncaster for a number of seasons, and striker Macaulay Langstaff from Millwall. "He didn't have a great time at Millwall in terms of goals, but he's probably better than League Two. So to get those two over the line in the summer, naturally, you would have felt that, attacking wise, they were going to be very good - and it's not translated that way in the opening weeks of the season. "It's early days, but the ownership will be scratching their heads a little bit, because the budget will be very competitive again and beaten play-off finalists last year, you'd expect them to be around it. So, really surprised. "It'll get better for them, I'm sure, but when you take the Salford job, you're always under probably a bit more pressure than some of the jobs in League Two because of the resources and the magnitude of some of the names that are involved." Sam Parkin was speaking to BBC Sport England's Tim Durrans