Analysis: West Brom are top of the league and having a laugh

Nobody’s suggesting this team is the finished article, not the manager, the players, or the fans, and there are still kinks that need ironing out, weaknesses that need strengthened.

But what is encouraging is that the team is visibly improving in problem areas and growing increasingly accustomed to each other.

After picking up 13 points from a possible 15, they are starting to get into their groove.

Thanks to the early pacesetters losing form, that run has been enough to send the Baggies top of the pile.

No team in the Championship has consistently convinced so far, but Darren Moore’s men are at least building up a head of steam as they refine their new approach.

On the face of it, this was the archetypal victory of the new Moore era. You’ve scored two? No problem. We’ll score three.

It was also an archetypal defeat for Preston North End, who have now lost 3-2 in three of their last four league games.

The scoreline shouldn’t be surprising considering it was the league’s leakiest defence up against its deadliest attack – but few would have predicted a five-goal thriller at half-time.

Despite conceding two goals in the second half, Ahmed Hegazi and Craig Dawson were two of the best performers in yellow and green.

The Egyptian mopped everything up at the back, and Dawson started most of the patterns of play.

There is more rigidity at the back, more confidence in the system.

There’s no question the Baggies missed Matt Phillips’s presence on the right hand side, where Tyrone Mears was ignored by his team-mates at times.

Mears doesn’t hold a candle to Phillips at wing-back – not many do in this league – but it was still odd to see so few balls go to him in the first half.

When they did in the second half, he helped set up a chance that nearly led to a penalty.

The other concerning feature came in central midfield, where Gareth Barry looked all of his 37 years, leaving too much on Jake Livermore’s shoulders, even though he rose to the challenge.

It’s also impossible to ignore the fortunate way Albion retook the lead with 17 minutes to go.

Ninety-nine times out of a 100, Dawson’s cross is headed clear and Preston go on to search for a winner, but this time, lady luck smiled on the Baggies.

This wasn’t a lucky victory though. As the games rack up, this line-up is starting to look much more cohesive from back to front.

The huge chasm between the front three and the back three is shrinking, the defence look more comfortable both in and out of possession, and crucially, the players seem to have discovered a taste for winning.

Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez grabbed the headlines, and understandably so.

That pair have already scored 13 goals between them this season, which is as many as 14 teams in the Championship.

It’s the best strike-force in the league and it’s becoming increasingly evident as weeks go by that its capable of firing Albion to promotion.

Darren Moore has a strong starting XI at his disposal, but that shouldn’t detract from what he is achieving in, lest we forget, his first season in management.

Stoke City have a strong squad, Aston Villa have a frightening front line. Neither have got off to similarly fast starts.

If last season taught us anything, it’s that it is never as simple as just putting your best players on the pitch.

You have to have a plan, and crucially, your players have to believe in it.

Afterwards, Rodriguez revealed that Moore is a leader who the players believe in, and he’s championing an approach his players agree with. It’s also one they enjoy carrying out.

It was his team-talk at half-time that led to Albion’s turnaround in this game.

He demanded more urgency from his side in possession and they delivered, scoring three minutes after the break following one of their best passages of play.

It may have come off Rodriguez’s shoulder, but you deserve that slice of luck when you get in front of your man.

Being top is great, but just five points separate the top 14 teams in the Championship. It’s currently tighter than an XS shirt on Jake Livermore.

Take their eye off the ball this week and Albion could suddenly find themselves outside the top six.

More important than being top is the 20 points won from the first 10 games. Two points a game will win you promotion out of this league nine times out of 10.

But it’s too early to be talking about promotion just yet – not because this team can’t achieve it – but because their results are happening in the here and now.

Rather than looking eight months down the line at what might or might not be when May rolls around, it’s best to focus on the present.

Don't wish this season away, the fun may have just begun.

There were 3,200 Baggies at Deepdale, they nearly filled the whole of one end, and they outsang the beleaguered home fans.

When Jay Rodriguez gave his shirt to a boy in the crowd at the end of the game, it was a symbolic and heartening gesture.

The passion has returned, the connection between player and fan has returned, the joy has returned.

Albion supporters are seeing their team win, in yellow and green stripes no less, and they’re falling back in love with their club.

And according to the man in charge, there’s more to come.