A 10-point lead cut to three - is it just a blip for Coventry?

"Everyone still believes. We're still confident. We're top of the league and we need to focus on ourselves and get back to all the good things we've been doing so far."

Coventry City full-back Jay Dasilva did his best to say all the right things after the Sky Blues' latest setback away from home on Tuesday - a 2-1 defeat by Norwich City.

It was their sixth game on the road without a win and saw their lead at the top reduced to three points.

Although the cushion to the play-off places is still a plump eight points, Coventry fans will be heartened by Dasilva's vow to revisit the good stuff.

Because it was very good.

Good enough to see them as statistical shoe-ins to win the title, ending a 25-year wait for promotion to the Premier League.

Although this current wobble away from the CBS Arena has cut their title-winning percentage according to statistical experts, Coventry's top-flight prospects remain in rude health.

But with another away game to come on Saturday at QPR, how worried should Sky Blues fans be about their team's durability over the remaining 17 games?

BBC Sport takes a closer look.

Coventry's first four months of the season were superb.

The opening 18 games delivered 13 wins, set new records and threatened to create many more.

Their 10-point lead going into December had been smashed out to a pumping soundtrack of the ball hitting the back of the net that brought 11 wins in 12 matches.

No team had ever been so far ahead of the rest at that stage of a Championship season.

Then came a 3-0 defeat at Ipswich that put an abrupt end to the outstanding run and left boss Frank Lampard saying a reaction from his side "was the only important thing".

But only four wins, all at home, have followed in the 10 games since then.

"None of those victories were entirely convincing," said BBC CWR sports editor and Sky Blues commentator Rob Gurney.

"Away from the CBS Arena, things have been going south since an unforgettable night on Teesside [a 4-2 win at Middlesbrough on 25 November] barring an exceptional rearguard action to earn an unlikely point at Southampton.

"Yes, they're still top of the Championship, and with a healthy cushion to third place, but if we're searingly honest, haven't played consistently well since the end of November."

Coventry's start kept the statisticians busy.

At various points, they had the most goals across Europe's top five leagues, an unmatched goal difference and the best goal-per-game ratio in the second tier for a century.

They were the first team for more than 50 years to score 50 goals after 18 games and their current tally - 62 - is still the best in England's top four divisions by nine.

Their lead to second-placed Middlesbrough may be now only three points but the eight-point gap to the play-off places is reassuring as automatic promotion still looks well within their reach.

Opta's supercomputer still thinks so too.

Eight weeks ago, Coventry had a predicted 90.5% chance of becoming champions and a 96.8% of a top-two finish.

Now, those numbers are down to 62.4% and 85.3% respectively. Quite a drop, but still very healthy.

But is there cause for concern in the shorter-term trend?

After scoring 50 and conceded only 18 in their first 18 fixtures, only 12 have been bagged in the past 11 and 15 let in.

In the past six away trips in the Championship, the Sky Blues have scored six, conceded 11 and not kept a clean sheet. They have taken three points from 18.

Added to that, fit-again top-scorer Brandon Thomas-Asante is yet to rediscover the form that brought him 10 goals in 13 games.

Haji Wright's goals against Leicester and Millwall in successive home matches this month were also his first since October.

Although Coventry remain the top scorers away from home, they also have the joint-leakiest defence in the top half.

And it is that new fragility at the back that has Gurney most concerned.

"The team have been too easy to play against - and through - so, in the cliched back-to-basics vernacular, why not try three centre-backs?" he said.

"It adds insurance to a part of the pitch that's been way too open recently, and some protection to midfield - and Matt Grimes in particular, who's not been keeping time in his usual, metronomic style of late."

Gurney highlighted the situation around centre-back Luke Woolfenden, signed for a reported £4m in the summer but used only 11 times in the league and not at all yet in 2026.

"If hatchets need to be buried, then bury them," added Gurney, who felt leaving a player who cost a significant fee on the bench "doesn't make much sense".

Gurney suggested if Woolfenden is not seen as a solution, the club "get someone else in that position who can shore things up, before it's too late".

Coventry's transfer business so far this month suggests they are determined to score their way back to dominance after bringing in three wingers - Yang Min-hyeok, Romain Esse and Jahnoah Markelo.

But Gurney said shoring up the defence now needs to be the priority.

"It's the leaking of goals that's now a major cause for concern," he said.

"If that isn't addressed, then all the excellent foundation work that was laid in the first half of the season will be ruined. Simple as that.

"Sky Blues fans are right to be worried at the moment."

So how worried are fans? Here is a selection views sent to BBC Sport.

Simon: Defensively weak, particularly in the centre, but across the back four there are palpable nerves.

Steven: The team is starting to feel the pressure now of the gap closing. One game at a time, it's still the same team that took QPR apart 7-1 at the beginning of the season, they just need to find that type of form, mentality and feeling again.

James: Our entire system relying on Matt Grimes being on form has been a ticking time-bomb for a while now.

Gary: It feels like a long time since we were keeping clean sheets. It also feels like teams have figured us out. Our midfield seem to be getting overrun, and we seem to be struggling to isolate our wingers against opposition wing-backs. Right now it feels like when things aren't going to plan, we don't have a tactical back-up.

At Friday's news conference Lampard acknowledged the Norwich game "was not our best day" but was keen to emphasise what his players have done this season.

"We need to be very careful to understand where we're at," he told BBC CWR.

"You're never entitled to get anything in this league.

"Where we sit is due to our hard work but if we'd continued that form from the end of November we'd have been on 112 points or something - it's not a reality."

Lampard spoke about having "the right perspective" and "challenging" periods are a given for all clubs.

"My job is to correct any negatives and to promote what we've done - it's important to be positive," he added.

"If you think everything's going to be rosy all the time, don't come into this job.

"There have been lots of good days and it's time to get back at it."

Given Coventry set incredible standards at the start of the season, their inevitable drop off will set alarm bells off for some - no team has had such a big lead over third place after 18 games of a Championship season and failed to go up.

But, the Sky Blues remain an excellent side and, statistically and relatively, the best team in the division.

Opta's predicted tally of 87 points, external may be well short of the second-tier record of 106, but it is five better than second spot and, seven clear of the play-off places as things stand.

Games are won on the pitch, of course, not inside a computer, and Coventry's away form has to be a worry.

However, a timely win at Loftus Road on Saturday would be the perfect way to start believing the good times are coming back.