Albion’s Promotion Challenge Season Comparison – 6 games

There were three excellent goals at the Hawthorns resulting in three valuable points for the Baggies as they got back to winning ways in the league defeating pre-season promotion favourites, Stoke City.

It wasn’t quite as comfortable as it could have been. The hosts dominated the opening exchanges and deservedly took the lead thanks to a wonderful piece of skill and a clinical finish from Dwight Gayle. Albion had further chances but Stoke came close to equalising when former Baggie, James McClean, closed down Sam Johnstone after he had been put under pressure by a poor back pass from Hegazi, but the deflection just cleared the bar.

It was the worst example of some nervousness under the press at the back, something that future opponents will no doubt have noticed. Albion definitely needed the second goal which came thanks to a fantastic ball over the top from Jake Livermore and another excellent finish from Dwight Gayle.

Livermore then became the villain as he handled close to the goal line and was lucky not to see red as the referee awarded the penalty to the visitors. The Albion fans had been joyfully giving Berahino and McClean plenty of stick as they failed to really make much of an impact, and when former Wolves striker, Benik Afobe, struck the bar with his penalty kick, their joy was unconfined.

The points never really felt in the bag as Stoke pressed late on, but Pieters’ wonder strike thankfully came too late and Albion took the points.

It leaves the Baggies in 8th place, just a point off the top six and four points behind joint leaders Leeds United and Middlesbrough. They travel to winless Birmingham City after the international break for their first proper local derby since they drew 0-0 with Aston Villa in January 2016.

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 6 2 1 3 4 8 7 10th 2 0 1 3 3 6 0 1 2 1 5 1 6th 74
2001/2002 6 3 1 2 9 5 10 9th 2 0 1 5 1 6 1 1 1 4 4 4 2nd 89
2003/2004 6 5 0 1 12 6 15 1st 3 0 0 9 2 9 2 0 1 3 4 6 2nd 86
2006/2007 6 3 2 1 7 4 11 3rd 3 0 0 6 1 9 0 2 1 1 3 2 4th 76
2007/2008 6 3 1 2 10 4 10 5th 3 0 0 8 0 9 0 1 2 2 4 1 1st 81
2009/2010 6 4 2 0 12 6 14 1st 2 1 0 6 2 7 2 1 0 6 4 7 2nd 91
2018/2019 6 3 1 2 15 9 10 8th 2 0 1 10 4 6 1 1 1 5 5 4
* Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the table after all fixtures for that day have been completed.

Results

2000/2001 09/09/2000 Stockport County (A) D 0-0
2001/2002 15/09/2001 Watford (A) W 2-1 Dobie (2)
2003/2004 13/09/2003 Ipswich Town (H) W 4-1 Gaardsøe, Hulse (2), Diallo (o.g.)
2006/2007 09/09/2006 Leicester City (H) W 2-0 Kenton (o.g.), Phillips (pen)
2007/2008 18/09/2007 Bristol City (A) D 1-1 Koren
2009/2010 12/09/2009 Plymouth Argyle (H) W 3-1 Martis, Cech (2)
2018/2019 01/09/2018 Stoke City (H) W 2-1 Gayle (2)

Next Matches

2000/2001 12/09/2000 Crewe Alexandra (A) W 1-0 Hughes
2001/2002 18/09/2001 Preston North End (H) W 2-0 Dobie (2)
2003/2004 16/09/2003 Wigan Athletic (A) L 0-1
2006/2007 12/09/2006 Preston North End (A) L 0-1
2007/2008 22/09/2007 Scunthorpe United (A) W 3-2 Barnett, Brunt, Teixeira
2009/2010 15/09/2009 Doncaster Rovers (H) W 3-1 Olsson (2), Wood
2018/2019 14/09/2018 Birmingham City (A)

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