With a quarter of the league campaign now gone already, a tip of the hat must go to West Brom who are, relatively speaking, the team of the season so far. With their first four away games being at Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man United, many had tipped them as one of the pre-season favourites for the drop, but Roberto di Matteo’s side now sit in fourth place in the table and are showing a remarkable character and consistency to their performances.
Last week they battled back at Old Trafford to earn themselves a draw and this afternoon saw the Baggies fall behind early on to an unfortunate Scott Carson own goal in their home encounter with Mark Hughes’ Fulham. Once again, though, Di Matteo’s men hauled their way back into the game and despite the continued absence of star forward Peter Odemwingie, they still managed to grab a couple of goals to defeat the Cottagers by the odd goal in three.
With three wins and two stalemates at the Hawthorns they are undefeated at home all season and unbeaten in the league since August, despite recording just one clean sheet in the nine games to date.
Of the three promoted sides, Blackpool’s open, attacking play seems to be grabbing most of the attention, whilst Newcastle’s early season promise has somewhat tailed off to be replaced by off-field antics at present. West Brom, on the other hand, continue to play their football whilst showing the ability to battle that Ian Holloway’s men perhaps lack.
Great credit must go to Di Matteo, who seems to have learned rapidly and impressively from the club’s Stamford Bridge battering on the opening day of the season. Granted, a draw for either Arsenal or Man United tomorrow will knock the Baggies down a place or two, but until then at least, fans will take great delight in the fact that West Brom stands shoulder to shoulder with the so-called elite in the Champions League placings, their highest ever position in the Premier League.
