West Ham ominous and relief for Martin - Sam Parkin's EFL takeaways

[BBC] With five weeks gone of the EFL season, Final Score pundit and former Swindon, Luton Town and Northampton Town striker Sam Parkin selects his takeaways from the Championship, League One and League Two. West Ham's strength comes to the fore West Ham have won their past four games after a stuttering start in the Championship [Getty Images] West Ham are really hitting their stride and have surged to the top of the Championship after winning their last four matches, including walloping Wrexham 6-0 on Friday. Parkin: "They've scored 20 goals in just seven games and their attacking players are coming to the fore. "In the early part of the season, they probably had a few defensive issues and their forward players papered over the cracks to a certain degree, but on Friday night it all came together. "Jarrod Bowen said after the game how important it was to get the transfer window closed so you know exactly who's going to be there. "Ultimately when you can get Manor Solomon, Jarrod Bowen, Valentin Castellanos and Joel Piroe in the same Championship side, they're going to cause havoc. "Those were the ingredients on Friday night. Wrexham were bad, but I don't think we should get too carried away by Wrexham's performance when you consider the embarrassment of riches that West Ham have got. "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." Promotion the aim for in-form Swansea? Swansea City striker Adam Idah is their top scorer with three goals [Getty Images] Vitor Matos' Swansea City remain second behind West Ham on goal difference after beating Burnley 3-1 on Saturday, a fourth win this season. Parkin: "Swansea have made an amazing start to the season. It's important to have both centre-forwards scoring and both Zan Vipotnik and Adam Idah scored against Burnley. "They've got strength in depth there. They've made some really interesting signings from different leagues, which you always expect from Swansea, going back over the years. "I mentioned Stephen Welsh on Final Score and the centre-half was an interesting buy from Celtic. He's really hit the ground running and I think their main strength is their defending, which maybe is not something you always associate with Swansea. "But four clean sheets already this season shows you that they've got the balance right between defence and attack. "Can they make a fist at getting automatically promoted? I doubt it, but with the extension to the play-offs, they can fight and win a place in the top eight. That would definitely be a realistic ambition for them." Stockport win must be a turning point for Leicester Leicester manager Russell Martin watches his side bounce back at Stockport [Getty Images] Leicester City and manager Russell Martin got a very welcome win at Stockport County on Saturday after the low of losing 4-0 at home to Oxford last weekend. Parkin: "Stockport was a really difficult game in the aftermath of losing 4-0 at home to Oxford. That was a real low for the supporters, so it was an enormous game on Saturday. "The victory is all important and it doesn't really matter how it came. Yes, there will be people picking holes in the result and saying they conceded three goals, but Stockport have been there or thereabouts for a number of seasons. "You can see a little sprinkling of real experience in Leicester now. Emil Riis was the difference against Stockport with his two goals and he is vastly experienced from his time in the Championship. "John Lundstram, another scorer at Stockport, is also vastly experienced as is Liam Cullen, who got the other goal. He was a trusted player for Russell Martin previously at Swansea. "Those are three guys with loads of experience in the second tier. The young lads at Leicester are being thrown into a really-difficult situation and they're going to need those three. "Leicester and Martin will hope Stockport is a springboard because it's no good if they lose the next game and they are back where they started." Barnet can get in the play-offs under Brennan Barnet's Charlie Lakin already has five goals this season [Getty Images] Barnet under Dean Brennan are top of League Two following their win against Accrington Stanley and they are unbeaten in their first six league games. Parkin: "Dean celebrates five years at Barnet this month and he's done it the hard way. "He's managed in non-league, well below National League level. He had a brilliantly-entertaining side and he's continued that in the EFL. "Barnet are free scoring under him and they scored another two at Accrington. "Charlie Lakin has been a bit of a revelation for them and he's scored five goals already from midfield. He wasn't free scoring by any stretch when he was at Walsall previously. "Dean's teams are always a good watch, always very entertaining. You have to get the balance right in League Two, between being able to get points on the road and being attacking at home. I think he's getting that balance right. "They're much fancied this season and I would be really confident they can emulate last season's really strong finish and get in the play-offs this time round." Walsall changing their style under Grant Walsall manager Lee Grant took over at the club in May [Shutterstock] Walsall hope they can make it third time lucky in winning promotion from League Two after their heartbreaks over the Past two years and they are unbeaten so far under Lee Grant. Parkin: "Walsall are a really interesting case of a side who are changing their style. "They had real success over the first two halves of the last two seasons under Mat Sadler. Mat had a real fixed way of playing that was getting success, but they just couldn't sustain it to get over the line. "Walsall fans will be treated to a different brand of play and they had 70% possession against Rochdale on Saturday. "Defensively they are very solid and have four clean sheets in their six league games. They've only conceded four times and have the joint-best defence in League Two. "They've been blessed in the past with good forwards, such as Freddie Draper and Nathan Lowe, but they still had 24 shots against Rochdale, despite not scoring, and their goalkeeper made six saves. "They've made a really good start and I'm sure the supporters are encouraged that they could go one better and get promoted this season." Sam Parkin was speaking to BBC Sport England's David Anderson