West Brom unbeaten starts: How does this season compare?

Slaven Bilic and his Albion players deserve huge credit for the way they have started the 2019/20 campaign.

But they are aren’t the first Baggies side to avoid defeat in their opening eight league matches.

And a quick glance at history shows their good start doesn’t guarantee success further down the line.

Albion have actually enjoyed starts that have been just as impressive on three occasions in their history.

1953-54

In the famous 1953-54 campaign, they actually avoided defeat in their first nine league matches. And seven of those resulted in wins with Arsenal, Manchester, United (twice), Preston, Tottenham, Burnley and Newcastle all dispatched.

In the end, the league campaign would end in heartbreak with Vic Buckingham’s side finishing second in Division One, four points behind champions Wolves. But that was quickly forgotten when they lifted the FA Cup by beating Preston at Wembley.

A brace from Ronnie Allen and a Frank Griffin strike saw them win 3-2 in front of 99,852 fans, the biggest crowd any Albion team has played in front of.

1999-2000

While Albion, were successful that year, they didn’t enjoy a fruitful campaign in 1999-2000, despite once again starting with a nine match unbeaten run. Port Vale and Swindon were both defeated during that spell.

But the other seven games all ended as draws. And when they were then beaten 1-0 by Walsall, the Baggies were well and truly in a relegation scrap. That year the club ended up having three different managers at the helm.

Denis Smith was in charge from June to July with Brian Little replacing him from August through to February. His departure then saw Gary Megson arrive.

But only a run of seven points from their last three games kept them in the division one, with Albion finishing one place outside the relegation zone.

2009-10

They had a lot more success back in 2009/2010 – the last time they started a season so well.

That year, under Roberto Di Matteo, they began with an eight game unbeaten run that included six victories.

Nottingham Forest, Peterborough, Ipswich, Plymouth, Doncaster and Middlesbrough were all dispatched.

And while it was Newcastle who went on to win the Championship fairly comfortably, Albion clinched automatic promotion by finishing second. Interestingly, that team ­— like Bilic’s side – was one that liked to spread goals throughout the team. Chris Brunt, with 13 strikes, finished as top scorer in the league.

But Graham Dorrans, with 17 goals, was the overall top scorer with Roman Bednar (11), Simon Cox (10) and Robert Koren (eight) all chipping in on a regular basis. And while he didn’t feature, that squad also included a young Romaine Sawyers.