Albion’s Second Tier Season Comparison – 20 games

A wonderful goal from Brandon Thomas-Asante secured Albion’s third successive victory and a third successive clean sheet. It is the first time that the Baggies have recorded three wins in a row since the early days of Valérien Ismaël’s reign when they won four league games in succession in August 2021, albeit there was a 6-0 home defeat by Arsenal in the League Cup between the third and fourth matches of that run.

Steve Bruce’s side ended last season with three successive clean sheets, but prior to that, it was in the days of Tony Pulis in September 2015 when Albion kept the ball out of their net for four games in a row, one in the League Cup and three in the Premier League.

The last time Albion won three games in a row without conceding was in September 2007 when Tony Mowbray’s team beat Peterborough United in the League Cup 2-0 and followed that with a 2-0 win over Barnsley and a 4-0 win over Ipswich Town. For three league wins without conceding, we have to go back more than 20 years – under Gary Megson in August 2003, the Baggies won six games in succession, five of those in the league, and three being consecutive 1-0 wins over Watford, Preston North End and Derby County.

1994/95 remains the only second tier season in which an Albion side has had fewer points at the same stage. Alan Buckley’s team beat Barnsley 2-1 to move onto 21 points, two fewer than this season’s team. That moved Albion into a season high 20th place although three of the four teams below them had a game in hand.

Brian Talbot’s team of 1990/91 had exactly the same record from 20 games after a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth, then managed by future Baggies caretaker boss, Frank Burrows. There were just 7,856 at the Hawthorns that day and Woking was just three weeks away. That season, 23 points was good enough for 14th place albeit Albion were just two points clear of the bottom three.

    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
1988/1989 20 9 7 4 29 19 34 5th 6 2 2 16 9 20 3 5 2 13 10 14 9th 72
1989/1990 20 6 6 8 33 34 24 14th 3 3 3 18 17 12 3 3 5 15 17 12 20th 51
1990/1991 20 5 8 7 25 28 23 14th 3 5 3 12 10 14 2 3 4 13 18 9 23rd 48
1993/1994 20 6 6 8 33 32 24 16th 5 4 2 24 17 19 1 2 6 9 15 5 21st 51
1994/1995 20 5 6 9 18 28 21 20th 5 2 2 11 8 17 0 4 7 7 20 4 19th 58
1995/1996 20 7 3 10 24 30 24 16th 5 1 4 13 12 16 2 2 6 11 18 8 11th 60
1996/1997 20 5 9 6 26 31 24 17th 1 4 4 9 14 7 4 5 2 17 17 17 16th 57
1997/1998 20 11 4 5 22 15 37 4th 7 1 2 10 4 22 4 3 3 12 11 15 10th 61
1998/1999 20 9 3 8 39 35 30 11th 7 0 4 25 16 21 2 3 4 14 19 9 12th 59
1999/2000 20 5 10 5 21 21 25 15th 2 7 2 12 11 13 3 3 3 9 10 12 21st 49
2000/2001 20 11 4 5 27 21 37 4th 7 2 2 18 11 23 4 2 3 9 10 14 6th 74
2001/2002 20 11 2 7 24 18 35 5th 6 1 3 11 5 19 5 1 4 13 13 16 2nd 89
2003/2004 20 12 4 4 31 17 40 1st 6 2 2 13 6 20 6 2 2 18 11 20 2nd 86
2006/2007 20 8 5 7 32 23 29 10th 6 2 1 20 8 20 2 3 6 12 15 9 4th 76
2007/2008 20 10 5 5 40 22 35 2nd 6 3 1 21 8 21 4 2 4 19 14 14 1st 81
2009/2010 20 11 5 4 41 19 38 2nd 6 1 3 21 9 19 5 4 1 20 10 19 2nd 91
2018/2019 20 10 5 5 42 28 35 3rd 6 2 2 27 14 20 4 3 3 15 14 15 4th 80
2019/2020 20 13 6 1 41 20 45 1st 6 4 0 28 15 22 7 2 1 13 5 23 2nd 83
2021/2022 20 9 7 4 27 16 34 3rd 6 4 0 16 5 22 3 3 4 11 11 12 10th 67
2022/2023 20 5 8 7 24 24 23 21st 3 4 4 14 14 13 2 4 3 10 10 10    
* Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the table after all fixtures for that day have been completed.

Results

1988/1989 10/12/1988 Hull City (H) W 2-0 Goodman (2)
1989/1990 02/12/1989 Sheffield United (A) L 1-3 Robson
1990/1991 15/12/1990 Portsmouth (H) D 0-0  
1993/1994 19/12/1993 Barnsley (H) D 1-1 Ashcroft
1994/1995 03/12/1994 Barnsley (H) W 2-1 Heggs, Hamilton
1995/1996 02/12/1995 Reading (A) L 1-3 Ashcroft
1996/1997 30/11/1996 Bradford City (A) D 1-1 Groves
1997/1998 02/12/1997 Manchester City (H) L 0-1  
1998/1999 29/11/1998 Wolverhampton Wanderers (H) W 2-0 Klibane, Murphy
1999/2000 04/12/1999 Norwich City (A) L 1-2 Kilbane
2000/2001 25/11/2000 Preston North End (H) W 3-1 Hughes (3)
2001/2002 24/11/2001 Bradford City (H) W 1-0 McInnes
2003/2004 29/11/2003 Nottingham Forest (A) W 3-0 Koumas (2), Louis-Jean (o.g.)
2006/2007 28/11/2006 Sheffield Wednesday (A) L 1-3 Koumas
2007/2008 04/12/2007 Coventry City (H) L 2-4 Bednár (2)
2009/2010 08/12/2009 Cardiff City (H) L 0-2  
2018/2019 03/12/2018 Brentford (H) D 1-1 Barnes
2019/2020 08/12/2019 Swansea City (H) W 5-1 Ajayi, Pereira, Robson-Kanu, Phillips, Edwards
2021/2022 26/11/2021 Nottingham Forest (H) D 0-0  
2022/2023 12/11/2022 Stoke City (H) W 2-0 Bartley, Thomas-Asante

Next Matches

1988/1989 18/12/1988 Stoke City (H) W 6-0 Robson (2), Goodman (2), Paskin (2)
1989/1990 09/12/1989 AFC Bournemouth (H) D 2-2 Goodman, Bartlett
1990/1991 22/12/1990 Swindon Town (A) L 1-2 Roberts (pen)
1993/1994 27/12/1993 Bristol City (H) L 0-1  
1994/1995 10/12/1994 Sheffield United (A) L 0-2  
1995/1996 09/12/1995 Stoke City (H) L 0-1  
1996/1997 08/12/1996 Bolton Wanderers (H) D 2-2 Peschisolido, Taylor (pen)
1997/1998 06/12/1997 Stockport County (H) W 3-2 Sneekes, Hughes, Hunt
1998/1999 05/12/1998 Bury (A) L 0-2  
1999/2000 07/12/1999 Crewe Alexandra (A) L 0-2  
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
2021/2022 04/12/2021 Coventry City (A) W 2-1 Grant, McFadzean (o.g.)
2022/2023 12/12/2022 Sunderland (A)      

If you cannot see the tables, click here.

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