Albion’s winning run came to an end at the DW Stadium, but their unbeaten run is stretched to eleven games and Bilić’s team remain five points better off than any other of the Baggies’ promotion challenging teams of the last two decades.
Roberto di Matteo’s side went 12 games unbeaten at the end of the 2009/10 season, a record that was unceremoniously ended at Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the following season with a 6-0 hammering.
One of the more unusual unbeaten runs happened either side of Albion’s only relegation to the third tier. Bobby Gould’s team were unbeaten for the final nine games of the 1990/91 season, but won only two of them, and extended that run into their Third Division campaign to 13 matches before being thumped 3-0 at Burnden Park. That run is the joint third longest league unbeaten run in the club’s history.
The total of 46 points from the opening 21 games has been bettered (when converting to 3 points for a win), by only four previous Albion teams the most recent being Atkinson’s 78/79 side who reached the equivalent of 47 points (it was actually 33) on New Year’s Day 1979 with a victory over Bristol City, a result that left them, like the current team, second in the table on goal difference.
Game 22 sees them travel to St Andrew’s a year to the day after they earned what was a crucial win at Bramall Lane against the team now sitting comfortably in the top half of the Premier League.
| 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 | 21 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 28 | 21 | 40 | 3rd | 7 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 11 | 23 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 17 | 6th | 74 |
| 2001/2002 | 21 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 25 | 18 | 38 | 4th | 6 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 19 | 2nd | 89 |
| 2003/2004 | 21 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 32 | 18 | 41 | 1st | 6 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 21 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 11 | 20 | 2nd | 86 |
| 2006/2007 | 21 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 33 | 23 | 32 | 8th | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 8 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 15 | 9 | 4th | 76 |
| 2007/2008 | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 42 | 23 | 38 | 2nd | 6 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 8 | 21 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 15 | 17 | 1st | 81 |
| 2009/2010 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 43 | 21 | 39 | 2nd | 6 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 11 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 10 | 19 | 2nd | 91 |
| 2018/2019 | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 44 | 30 | 36 | 3rd | 6 | 3 | 2 | 29 | 16 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 4th | 80 |
| 2019/2020 | 21 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 42 | 21 | 46 | 2nd | 6 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 15 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 24 | ||
| * Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the table after all fixtures for that day have been completed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Results
| 2000/2001 | 02/12/2000 | Wimbledon (A) | W | 1-0 | Williams (o.g.) |
| 2001/2002 | 02/12/2001 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) | W | 1-0 | Jordão |
| 2003/2004 | 06/12/2003 | West Ham United (H) | D | 1-1 | Mullins (o.g.) |
| 2006/2007 | 02/12/2006 | Derby County (H) | W | 1-0 | Hartson |
| 2007/2008 | 08/12/2007 | Leicester City (A) | W | 2-1 | Gera, Beattie |
| 2009/2010 | 14/12/2009 | Queen’s Park Rangers (H) | D | 2-2 | Thomas, Cox |
| 2018/2019 | 07/12/2018 | Aston Villa (H) | D | 2-2 | Gayle, Rodriguez |
| 2019/2020 | 11/12/2019 | Wigan Athletic (A) | D | 1-1 | Austin |
Next Matches
| 2000/2001 | 09/12/2000 | Fulham (H) | L | 1-3 | Lyttle |
| 2001/2002 | 08/12/2001 | Sheffield United (H) | L | 0-1 | |
| 2003/2004 | 09/12/2003 | Bradford City (A) | W | 1-0 | Dobie |
| 2006/2007 | 10/12/2006 | Barnsley (A) | D | 1-1 | Koumas |
| 2007/2008 | 15/12/2007 | Charlton Athletic (H) | W | 4-2 | Bednar, Gera (2), Phillips |
| 2009/2010 | 26/12/2009 | Peterborough United (H) | W | 2-0 | Moore, Bennett (o.g.) |
| 2018/2019 | 14/12/2018 | Sheffield United (A) | W | 2-1 | Barry, Gibbs |
| 2019/2020 | 14/12/2019 | Birmingham City (A) |
Picture by Laurie Rampling
