Swansea lead Middlesbrough by two points at the top
Swansea sit on 23 points from 10 games, with Middlesbrough two behind on 21 and a trip to Middlesbrough already behind them.
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Two points. That is the whole margin at the top of the Championship table, and it is doing a lot of work.
Swansea lead on 23 points after 10 matches, with 7 wins, 2 draws and a single defeat. Middlesbrough are second on 21, beaten once themselves, and have scored more than the leaders: 20 goals against 16. They have also conceded seven more, 14 to 7, which is where the goal difference sits at 9 against 6.
The form line is the interesting part. Swansea have won four in a row, a run of W, W, W and W either side of an earlier loss. Middlesbrough have taken two straight wins but drew the two before that, and those dropped points are exactly the gap.
Can the chasing side keep scoring its way out of trouble? 20 goals in 10 games says yes. A defence that ships 14 says something else.
Below them the pack has already stretched. Birmingham and West Brom are level on 17 points, with West Ham a point further back on 16 and a goal difference of +11 that is better than anyone above them. Stoke sit sixth on 16. Nobody in that group is within a single result of the top two.
At the other end of the individual list, William Lankshear of Middlesbrough leads the scoring on 8, ahead of Cyle Larin on 7 and a group on 5 that includes Mohamed Toure, Jack Moylan and Jarrod Bowen. The leading scorer plays for the team in second. That tells you how Middlesbrough have been winning.
The division resumes on Wednesday 14 October, when the fixtures read Portsmouth against Sheffield Utd. Whether the gap is still two by then is the only question worth asking.