Confidence, momentum, belief - can rampant Coventry keep it up?

Dedication.

That's what you need if you want to be a record-breaker. So the famous TV show theme song went anyway.

Although only a handful of Coventry City's current squad were born, or are old enough to remember, when Record Breakers was a thing, you would be hard pushed right now to find a place where dedication is paying off more handsomely than at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

After 11 games of the Championship season, Frank Lampard's Sky Blues are the only unbeaten professional team in England.

No club has scored more goals across Europe's top five leagues and they currently boast the best goals-per-game ratio in the second tier for more than 100 years.

Only Bayern Munich, with Harry Kane's 12 goals in seven games, can match Coventry's goal difference of plus 23.

The ultimate prize remains a return to the Premier League after a 25-year wait and the probability of doing that is officially more than 50%. Already.

So how have they done it?

And, armed with an unbeatable goalkeeper, an insatiable striker and a head coach who knows a thing or two about winning, how far can Coventry take this brilliant start?

A record-breaker in goal

Carl Rushworth has had loan spells with Walsall, Lincoln City, Swansea City, Hull City and now Coventry City

They say never fall in love with a loan player.

But there is not enough cold water in the Arctic Ocean to douse the flames of affection Coventry fans feel for Carl Rushworth.

In 11 games for the Sky Blues, the 24-year-old Brighton goalkeeper has kept six clean sheets, including five in succession.

That sealed his place in club history as he clocked up a record 613 minutes without conceding. But for a 90th-minute consolation for Portsmouth on Tuesday, that run would still be intact.

However, the efforts of Rushworth and his team-mates at Fratton Park ensured he went past Horace Pearson's old record of 608 minutes - a mark that has stood since 1934.

For Lampard, Rushworth's excellence has not been a surprise.

"His confidence has grown since he has been here, but I always knew when we brought him in he's a very talented goalkeeper, and I'm really pleased for him with that record. He deserves it, it is a great achievement," he told BBC CWR.

"More than ever in the modern game, you defend from the front, but sometimes you have to acknowledge the individual achievement of that, and that's amazing to be at the club for such a short period and to do that."

Rushworth has a way to go to reach the EFL record of 29 clean sheets in a season, set by James Trafford for Burnley last term, but his personal best of 16 during a campaign with Lincoln City in 2022-23 is in range, as is Coventry's all-time record of 22 set by Rushworth's current understudy Ben Wilson - also in the 2022-23 campaign.

A striker who can't stop scoring

"We know that when we go 1-0 up it is not done."

If anything sums up City's mentality, joint top-scorer Brandon Thomas-Asante nailed it.

After an injury-affected season last term, the Ghanaian is in the form of his life with eight goals so far and five in his last three appearances.

"There are a lot of reasons why I have been playing better," he said.

"It's not to do with just me, the boys are making it really easy and I am so grateful to have these team-mates.

"You're not going to rest on eight goals. I just want to keep on going."

BBC CWR Sports editor, and Sky Blues commentator, Rob Gurney said Thomas-Asante's confidence is typical of a squad who are perfectly in tune with Lampard's demands.

"They look an exceptionally well-drilled group, and versatile," Gurney said.

"Thomas-Asante told me they trust what the coaches are telling them, even if what they're required to do for the team is slightly different to the norm."

Brandon Thomas-Asante moved to Coventry City from West Bromwich Albion in 2024

How are Coventry stacking up to history?

Thomas-Asante's exploits, along with fellow eight-goal man Hadji Wright and Victor Torp with six, have boosted Coventry's goals-per-game ratio to 2.82 after 11 games.

Not since Manchester City in 1903, when they finished with 95 goals in a 34-game season, has a team been more prolific in the second tier.

If Coventry maintain their current ratio over the remaining 35 games they will finish with 130 goals, smashing the second-tier record set by Middlesbrough (122) in 1927.

Fulham's 21st Century-Championship record, set four seasons ago, stands at 106.

And the goal difference?

Reading's plus 67, from 2005-06, is the best in the second tier this century as is the Royals' point tally of 106 from that same campaign.

At their current points-per-game ratio, the Sky Blues are on course to finish with 104.

Birmingham City's all-time EFL record of 111 was set last season.

As for Coventry's 11-game unbeaten start to a second-tier season, avoiding defeat against Watford on Saturday would equal Fulham's start 25 years ago.

If they can get to 16 matches they will set a new club record, surpassing the 15 they managed at the start of 1937-38.

Red-hot title favourites... with 35 games left

Despite the significant caveat of not yet being in November, some fans are already dreaming that this could finally be the season when the club's quarter-of-a-century wait to get back to the Premier League ends.

Even with 35 games left, football statisticians Opta put Coventry's title-winning probability at 50.6%, nearly three times more than their chances of finishing second (18.9%).

For context, Middlesbrough, currently a point behind the Sky Blues in second, are 19.9% likely to finish top and 20.4% to be second.

That Lampard is getting so much out of his squad is not a surprise.

When he took over from the long-serving, and popular, Mark Robins in November last year, the club were 17th, 10 points off the play-offs and only two points above the relegation zone.

He instigated their best league run for 55 years on the way to reaching the play-offs, only losing in the last minute of extra time in the semi-final against Premier-League bound Sunderland.

Gurney said appointing Lampard has turned out to be an "incredible call" by owner Doug King and one that even King "couldn't have imagined would have turned out this well, at least so far".

"Massive credit must go to Lampard, his number two Joe Edwards, and the rest of the coaching staff, for what they're getting out of the players."

Coventry City are big favourites to win the Championship title with football statisticians Opta even with 35 games to go

Confidence. Momentum. Belief

An inevitable consequence of good times on the pitch are good times in the stands and the Sky Blue Army are having a ball.

Average crowds at the CBS Arena this season are 29,751 - the highest home average attendance since 1969-70 - and Gurney said that shows how momentum is building.

"Lampard has admitted in interviews he didn't realise how special the Sky Blue Army are, with 30,000 crowds now a staple, rather than an exception," he said.

"The buy-in from everybody has been extraordinary. A record 24,000 season ticket holders tells its own story.

"Confidence, momentum, belief. Three oft-used words in football, which Coventry City under Lampard have by the tonne at the moment.

"Yes, there is still a very long way to go in the season, and the acid test will come with that inevitable first defeat. Whisper it quietly, though - that 25-year itch may just be ready to be finally scratched."