Here is a statistic that should alarm everybody who thinks they care about English football.
Of the 198 games played by six promoted teams in the Premier League since August 2023, only 23 have been won. Taking this season in isolation, the number is nine from 84.
So those of us who thought last season’s lamentable effort from Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton was a low that was not to be repeated are in the process of being proved disastrously and depressingly wrong.
It threatens to become a fundamental pattern that has already brought great danger to the door of our game.