Steve Bruce’s team kicked off the new season with a creditable 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough thanks to a debut goal from John Swift.
It is the third time in successive Championship seasons that the Baggies have started their campaign away from the Hawthorns and they have earned at least a point on each occasion. The last time Albion lost an opening day game away from home was in August 2010 when they went down 6-0 at Chelsea.
The Baggies have not lost their first away game of the season in the second tier since Tony Mowbray’s team went down 2-1 at Burnley on the first day of the title-winning campaign of 2007/08.
Looking ahead to next week’s first game at the Hawthorns against Watford, the 3-2 victory over their rivals, Luton Town, last season was the first time Albion had won their first home match of a second tier campaign since Mowbray’s team beat Preston North End 2-0 after that defeat to Burnley in August 2007. The other opening home games in the Championship between those dates were a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United in 2009, a 2-1 defeat to Bolton Wanderers in 2018 and a 1-1 draw with Millwall in 2019.
| 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 | 2nd | 83 |
| 2021/2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10th | 67 |
| 2022/2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| * 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 |
| 2021/2022 | 06/08/2021 | AFC Bournemouth (A) | D | 2-2 | O’Shea, Robinson |
| 2022/2023 | 30/07/2022 | Middlesbrough (A) | D | 1-1 | Swift |
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) | D | 1-1 | Bartley |
| 2021/2022 | 14/08/2021 | Luton Town (H) | W | 3-2 | Naismith (o.g.), Robinson, Grant |
| 2022/2023 | 08/08/2022 | Watford (H) |
If you cannot see the tables, click here.
