Here we go again with another campaign with the Baggies expecting challenge for promotion and, for only the second time this century, Albion kicked off a second tier campaign with a victory.
In 2006, a double from John Hartson on debut earned the Baggies all three points at the Hawthorns against Hull City. While Tony Pulis’s team started the 2016/17 Premier League season with an away win at Crystal Palace, the previous time that an Albion side opened a league campaign with an away win was back in 1973 when a brace from Tony Brown and another goal from Allan Glover helped Don Howe’s newly relegated side to a 3-2 win over Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
Looking ahead to the second fixture of the season, back in 2003, Macedonian midfielder, Artim Šakiri, announced himself to the Hawthorns faithful with a screamer to open the scoring in a 4-1 win over Burnley and get Gary Megson’s second promotion campaign properly underway.
| Home | Away | Season End | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Posn* | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Posn | Pts | |
| 2000/2001 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6th | 74 |
| 2001/2002 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 17th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2nd | 89 |
| 2003/2004 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 23rd | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2nd | 86 |
| 2006/2007 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3rd | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4th | 76 |
| 2007/2008 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 18th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1st | 81 |
| 2009/2010 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15th | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2nd | 91 |
| 2018/2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 22nd | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4th | 80 |
| 2019/2020 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| * Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the table after all fixtures for that day have been completed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Results
| 2000/2001 | 12/08/2000 | Nottingham Forest (A) | L | 0-1 | |
| 2001/2002 | 11/08/2001 | Walsall (A) | L | 1-2 | Clement |
| 2003/2004 | 09/08/2003 | Walsall (A) | L | 1-4 | Koumas |
| 2006/2007 | 05/08/2006 | Hull City (H) | W | 2-0 | Hartson (2) |
| 2007/2008 | 11/08/2007 | Burnley (A) | L | 1-2 | Phillips |
| 2009/2010 | 08/08/2009 | Newcastle United (H) | D | 1-1 | Martis |
| 2018/2019 | 04/08/2018 | Bolton Wanderers (H) | L | 1-2 | Barnes |
| 2019/2020 | 03/08/2019 | Nottingham Forest (A) | W | 2-1 | Edwards, Phillips |
Next Matches
| 2000/2001 | 19/08/2000 | Bolton Wanderers (H) | L | 0-2 | |
| 2001/2002 | 18/08/2001 | Grimsby Town (H) | L | 0-1 | |
| 2003/2004 | 16/08/2003 | Burnley (H) | W | 4-1 | Šakiri, Hulse, Hughes (2) |
| 2006/2007 | 08/08/2006 | Cardiff City (A) | D | 1-1 | Gera |
| 2007/2008 | 18/08/2007 | Preston North End (H) | W | 2-0 | Phillips, Miller |
| 2009/2010 | 15/08/2009 | Nottingham Forest (A) | W | 1-0 | Cohen (o.g.) |
| 2018/2019 | 07/08/2018 | Nottingham Forest (A) | D | 1-1 | Phillips |
| 2019/2020 | 10/08/2019 | Millwall (H) |
