Albion’s Promotion Challenge Season Comparison – 8 games

The Baggies moved into third place in the table after a 4-2 win over Bristol City that wasn’t as straightforward as the result might suggest. The Robins had some excellent chances before a Rodriguez penalty put the Baggies ahead, and some great attacking play and clinical finishing put Albion three up at the break.

Nervousness surrounding the Baggies back line meant that the three points never seemed entirely secure despite City never closing the deficit to less than two goals, but Albion held out for a welcome three points and they kept their spot at the top of the Championship scoring charts with 20 goals in 8 games.

The Baggies now have more points than they did at the same stage in the successful 2001/2 season (in game 8 Albion lost at home to Wimbledon thanks to a last minute Neil Shipperley strike), but the other three successful promotion sides had better points tallies at this stage.

No Albion side has scored more goals in their first eight games of the season since Vic Buckingham’s team of 1958 scored 21 goals including six goal away wins at Birmingham and Portsmouth. Robbie di Matteo’s side in 2009 also managed 20 goals including a 5-0 away win at Boro, as did Jimmy Hagan’s team in 1966, although they also conceded 18 in a run of results including a 5-1 win over Fulham, a 5-3 defeat to Manchester Utd and a 5-4 defeat to Everton.

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 8 3 2 3 6 9 11 8th 2 1 1 4 4 7 1 1 2 2 5 4 6th 74
2001/2002 8 4 1 3 11 6 13 8th 3 0 2 7 2 9 1 1 1 4 4 4 2nd 89
2003/2004 8 5 1 2 14 9 16 3rd 3 0 0 9 2 9 2 1 2 5 7 7 2nd 86
2006/2007 8 3 3 2 8 6 12 9th 3 1 0 7 2 10 0 2 2 1 4 2 4th 76
2007/2008 8 5 1 2 18 7 16 2nd 4 0 0 13 1 12 1 1 2 5 6 4 1st 81
2009/2010 8 6 2 0 20 7 20 1st 3 1 0 9 3 10 3 1 0 11 4 10 2nd 91
2018/2019 8 4 2 2 20 12 14 3rd 3 0 1 14 6 9 1 2 1 6 6 5
* Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the table after all fixtures for that day have been completed.

Results

2000/2001 17/09/2000 Birmingham City (H) D 1-1 Taylor
2001/2002 22/09/2001 Wimbledon (H) L 0-1
2003/2004 20/09/2003 Crystal Palace (A) D 2-2 Hulse, Koumas
2006/2007 16/09/2006 Southend United (H) D 1-1 Ellington
2007/2008 30/09/2007 Queen’s Park Rangers (H) W 5-1 Phillips (2), Miller, Koren, Greening
2009/2010 19/09/2009 Middlesbrough (A) W 5-0 Brunt (2), Mulumbu, Bednar, Thomas
2018/2019 18/09/2018 Bristol City (H) W 4-2 Rodriguez (2, 1 pen), Gayle, Barnes

Next Matches

2000/2001 23/09/2000 Portsmouth (A) W 1-0 Roberts
2001/2002 25/09/2001 Portsmouth (A) W 2-1 Clement, Dobie
2003/2004 27/09/2003 Stoke City (H) W 1-0 Dobie
2006/2007 23/09/2006 Luton Town (A) D 2-2 Carter, Gera
2007/2008 03/10/2007 Stoke City (H) D 1-1 Barnett
2009/2010 26/09/2009 Crystal Palace (H) L 0-1
2018/2019 22/09/2018 Millwall (H)

Related posts