A fourth defeat of the season, and a third in four games, saw Albion drop into the bottom three. That is the first time the Baggies have been in the second tier relegation zone, other than in the first three games of a campaign, since a 2-1 defeat at Walsall on 22nd April 2000 left Gary Megson’s team needing a strong finish to secure their Division One survival.
In 1994, Albion won their 12th game of the season under caretaker manager, John Trewick, beating Sheffield United 1-0 to move onto 10 points meaning that this campaign is now the joint worst start to a second tier campaign in the club’s history. In only seven top tier campaigns have the Baggies achieved fewer points from their opening 12 games and, on four of those occasions (1926/7, 1985/6, 2005/6 and 2020/1), they ended up being relegated. They managed to escape the drop on the other three in 1891/2, 1895/6 and, of course, 2004/5.
No Albion second tier team has conceded more than 18 goals in the first dozen games of a campaign since 1998/9 when Denis Smith’s side pushed their goals against tally to 23 with a 3-2 home defeat to Sunderland – a healthy 25 goals scored that campaign saw them in mid table where they would spend the rest of the campaign. Lee Hughes scored both Albion’s goals that day taking his season tally to 14 – how we could do with a goalscorer of that calibre today!
| 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 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 20 | 6th | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 6th | 74 |
| 2001/2002 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 22 | 4th | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 2nd | 89 |
| 2003/2004 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 12 | 25 | 3rd | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 2nd | 86 |
| 2006/2007 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 11 | 22 | 3rd | 4 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 4th | 76 |
| 2007/2008 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 25 | 15 | 20 | 2nd | 5 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 1st | 81 |
| 2009/2010 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 12 | 24 | 1st | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 2nd | 91 |
| 2018/2019 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 17 | 24 | 2nd | 5 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 7 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 4th | 80 |
| 2019/2020 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 13 | 25 | 1st | 3 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 2nd | 83 |
| 2021/2022 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 21 | 9 | 25 | 1st | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 10th | 67 |
| 2022/2023 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 18 | 10 | 22nd | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 4 | ||
| * Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the table after all fixtures for that day have been completed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Results
| 2000/2001 | 14/10/2000 | Norwich City (H) | L | 2-3 | Clement, Hughes (pen) |
| 2001/2002 | 16/10/2001 | Stockport County (A) | W | 2-1 | Taylor (2) |
| 2003/2004 | 14/10/2003 | Sheffield United (H) | L | 0-2 | |
| 2006/2007 | 17/10/2006 | Crystal Palace (A) | W | 2-0 | Gera, Kamara |
| 2007/2008 | 23/10/2007 | Blackpool (H) | W | 2-1 | Miller, Morrison |
| 2009/2010 | 17/10/2009 | Reading (H) | W | 3-1 | Thomas (2), Mulumbu |
| 2018/2019 | 06/10/2018 | Reading (H) | W | 4-1 | Gayle (2), Barnes, Bartley |
| 2019/2020 | 19/10/2019 | Middlesbrough (A) | W | 1-0 | Robson-Kanu |
| 2021/2022 | 15/10/2021 | Birmingham City (H) | W | 1-0 | Grant |
| 2022/2023 | 05/10/2022 | Preston North End (A) | L | 0-1 |
Next Matches
| 2000/2001 | 17/10/2000 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (H) | W | 1-0 | Hughes (pen) |
| 2001/2002 | 19/10/2001 | Norwich City (A) | L | 0-2 | |
| 2003/2004 | 18/10/2003 | Norwich City (H) | W | 1-0 | Koumas |
| 2006/2007 | 22/10/2006 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (H) | W | 3-0 | Greening, Kamara, Hartson (pen) |
| 2007/2008 | 27/10/2007 | Norwich City (H) | W | 2-0 | Miller, Phillips |
| 2009/2010 | 20/10/2009 | Swansea City (H) | L | 0-1 | |
| 2018/2019 | 20/10/2018 | Wigan Athletic (A) | L | 0-1 | |
| 2019/2020 | 22/10/2019 | Barnsley (H) | D | 2-2 | Diaby (o.g.), Pereira |
| 2021/2022 | 20/10/2021 | Swansea City (A) | L | 1-2 | Grant |
| 2022/2023 | 08/10/2022 | Luton Town (H) |
If you cannot see the tables, click here.
