Twenty five years in the waiting - Coventry's nightmare top-flight return

· BBC-PL

Coventry City's dream return to the Premier League is beginning to unravel after a fourth consecutive defeat - but can Frank Lampard turn it around?

Coventry's performance last weekend against Manchester City appeared to be a step in the right direction.

The Sky Blues were unlucky not to come away with at least a point as they put goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma under real pressure with 12 shots and recorded an xG of 1.37.

Those signs of improvement continued in the first half against Brighton as they fired off 10 shots and created a handful of chances through Frank Onyeka and Jack Rudoni, while trailing by just one goal at the break.

But things began to unravel shortly after the break when some poor defending handed Brighton the opportunity to double their lead, before Taiwo Awoniyi was sent off for a flailing elbow two minutes later.

Coventry have now lost their last 46 Premier League matches when conceding first, a run that stretches back to March 1999.

> "There's been some really poor defending from Coventry today," said former Manchester United captain Roy Keane on Sky Sports.

> "You would think at 3-0 they would take the defeat and move on, but with some of the decision making today...they start looking like a Championship team.

> "Frank has got to be really careful now that this team do not lose their belief."

Since the Premier League began in 1992, only one team (Southampton - 2012/13) has survived relegation after losing their opening four games of the campaign.

In the wider history of the English top flight, 10 of the 18 teams who have lost their first four matches of a season have been relegated (56%).

'We're not feeling sorry for ourselves'

It is not the first time Lampard has been tasked with transforming the fortunes of Coventry.

When he was appointed as Mark Robins' successor in November 2024 , the Sky Blues were 17th in the Championship, only two points above the relegation places.

Less than 18 months later, the 48-year-old was being hailed as a miracle worker after overseeing Coventry's dominant Championship campaign, which ended with the club's first promotion to the Premier League since 2001.

But his record in the top flight during his time at Chelsea and Everton was less impressive, with the former England international having won only four of his last 34 matches.

> "The players gave everything until the end but it doesn't feel nice. We have to take some responsibility and understand they are the levels we need to raise to," Lampard told Sky Sports.

> "We just continue to work. We are four games into the season when we have played the two most difficult fixtures [Arsenal\ and Manchester City\ away]. You always have to continue to work and the feeling is different in the Premier League.

> "It is more pressure and a lot of players have not been near that. We're not feeling sorry for ourselves and they have to keep working and working. I've been in this situation many, many times."

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