Cardiff City have had more of the ball than any club in the Championship over the first three rounds, and are 22nd with three points from five

Across the first three rounds of the Championship, three matches, Cardiff City had 66 per cent of the ball, the highest average share of any of the 24 clubs in the division, with West Ham United and Middlesbrough next on 64.67 per cent. Cardiff won 29 corners, more than any club in the division and four more than Millwall's 25, and had 20 shots on target from 55 attempts, second of the 24 behind QPR's 22. All of those figures are API-Football's, and all cover rounds one to three only.

What the control has bought

Cardiff City are 22nd of the 24 clubs. Three points from five matches, six goals scored and nine conceded, a run of three draws and two defeats. Cardiff City and Burnley are the only two clubs in the division still without a win, and Cardiff City are the one of the two with three draws: Burnley have two. Burnley are 24th on two points. The table line is current to all five matches.

The match that carries it

At home to Sheffield United on 29 August, Cardiff City had 28 shots to six, and drew 2-2. The chances were worth 2.24 expected goals against Sheffield United's 1.28, expected goals being API-Football's estimate of what a side's chances should have yielded. No finishing story either way: five goals from 5.12 expected across the three rounds. The counterweight is at the other end. Cardiff City faced 19 shots on target in those three rounds, 22nd of 24 in the division. Holding the ball has not kept it away from Cardiff's own goal.

The round that is not in those figures

Cardiff City lost 2-1 at QPR on 2 September, a first league defeat, Rumarn Burrell scoring twice before Perry Ng pulled one back on 74 minutes. API-Football has not published team statistics for that fixture, so it sits outside every three-round rank above. Head coach Brian Barry-Murphy's only public words since are on that defeat rather than on the chances or the draws: "I'm very disappointed, naturally. I don't think we were at our best in the first half, and we didn't have the technical level that we normally have, but I'm disappointed to concede the goal that we did." Portsmouth away at Fratton Park, 15:00 on Saturday, is next.

Three limits. Every league rank here covers the first three rounds only, three matches per club, because API-Football has not published team statistics for four round-four fixtures, one of which is QPR against Cardiff; points, goals, form and the table position are current to all five. Cardiff City's match report on the QPR game names neither an attendance nor a referee, so neither is printed. And Barry-Murphy has said nothing publicly about the chances Cardiff City are creating or about the run of draws.

Corrected at 00:23 on Sunday 6 September. This piece was published on 3 September and its table line has been brought up to date twice over. It said Cardiff City were 19th with three points from four matches, six goals scored and seven conceded, and one of three clubs in the division still without a win, alongside Burnley and Preston North End. Cardiff City have since lost 2-0 at Portsmouth, which leaves Cardiff City 22nd of 24 on three points from five, with six scored and nine conceded. Preston North End have since won a game, so the winless count is two: Cardiff City and Burnley. The possession, corner and shot ranks above are unchanged, because those ranks were always stated as covering the first three rounds only.