Coventry City

Coventry City spent £138.6m on a squad built to survive, and today it looked like one.

Sunderland were beaten 3-1 at the Coventry Building Society Arena, with goals from Sakamoto, Awoniyi and Jack Rudoni. That took the newly promoted champions to nine points from nine games and 15th at the final whistle. Three wins, six defeats, a goal difference of minus seven. It is not safe: Crystal Palace, 18th, were two points behind them at that moment with a game in hand.

The Lampard project

Frank Lampard is the manager, and Matt Grimes the captain. The people who matter right now:

• Jack Rudoni, three goals, including today's, and the man the attack leans on.
• Carl Rushworth, the goalkeeper signed from Brighton for £22.5m.
• Awoniyi, one of today's scorers, who also scored in the League Cup win at Plymouth.
• Bobby Thomas, the centre-back with a calf doubt, listed at 50 per cent for fitness.

£138.6m against £4.4m

Doug King is executive chairman and owner. Wikipedia's tally for the summer is blunt: £138.6m out, £4.4m in. It buys a squad, not an identity. Loum Tchaouna cost £20m from Burnley, Aurèle Amenda £15.4m from Eintracht Frankfurt, Rushworth £22.5m, Caleb Yirenkyi £23.1m from Nordsjælland and Sidiki Chérif £20.5m from Fenerbahçe.

A promoted club spending like that is betting that survival is worth more than caution. The bet pays only if ten new signings become a team, and nine games in, the evidence is mixed.

The shape of the first ten weeks

Coventry opened with a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal, then lost to Hull and Manchester City, both 1-0. A 5-0 home defeat by Brighton on 13 September was the low. The turn came with a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest on 19 September and then 4-1 against Newcastle on 12 October, with Rudoni, Sidiki Chérif, Ellis Simms and Sam Mfuni scoring.

Then came defeats to Tottenham (3-1) and Fulham (1-0, a goal in the 80th minute from Oscar Bobb), before today. Their League Cup run ended at home to Aston Villa, 3-1, after beating Plymouth 4-2.

What to watch next

Everton away on Friday 6 November at 20:00. Coventry's away allocation at Hill Dickinson Stadium sold out, the club says, and Everton have drawn four of their eight league games. The gap to the bottom three is too thin to relax about, so a win there would matter.