West Brom: A Case of Fluke or Actual Ability?

11 games into the new Premier League season and West Brom look to have made remarkable progress in the short period of time Steve Clarke has taken charge. Having reached 17 points already this season, it could be suggested that West Brom are nearly halfway to completing their first target: Avoid Relegation. People continue to claim that this run for West Brom is nothing more than a 'fluke', but I am going to convey why I strongly disagree in this post.


How they've started:
Steve Clarke's regime at West Brom began with a home game against Liverpool, where Clarke was sacked this Summer. It took until the 43rd minute for the games first goal and it was courtesy of a Zoltan Gera wonder goal. West Brom missed a penalty 15 minutes after half time when Daniel Agger received a red card for an unfair challenge on Shane Long. Long missed the resulting penalty and as a result was not taking the next penalty they got 2 minutes later. Instead, the responsibility fell to Peter Odemwingie who dispatched the penalty to make it 2-0. To finish off a great start for Steve Clarke, Liam Ridgewell set up a Romelu Lukaku header to make it 3-0. This brilliant win was followed up by a very credible draw away at Tottenham. The draw was gained when James Morrison snatched an equaliser from close range on the 90th minute. Another excellent second half display gave West Brom their best ever start, when they managed to beat Everton 2-0. Shane Long and Gareth McAuley ended Everton's 100% start to the season, much to the surprise of the neutrals.

West Brom suffered their first defeat of the season to the hands of Fulham at Craven Cottage. Dimitar Berbatov made his home debut in this game for Fulham and scored 2 goals, a beautiful effort from the edge of the area and he also tucked away a penalty. Steve Sidwell added a 3rd late on for Fulham but Clarke was not frustrated that his side had conceded 3 goals but instead his fury stemmed from Peter Odemwingie's dismissal when West Brom were 1-0 down. It was thought that West Brom may not have had the bouncebackability to retain their earlier form after such a damaging defeat, however, it seemed to spur West Brom on and get rid of the over-confidence which was building up amongst the side. Romelu Lukaku's goal from the edge of the box against Reading on the 71st minute was enough to seal victory for the Baggies. This was followed up by a 1-1 draw against rivals Aston Villa. West Brom had struggling QPR to overcome next and they did that more comfortably than the scoreline might suggest. James Morrison's fine start to the season continued when he gave West Brom the lead early on, Gera added a second. Adel Taarabt scored a brilliant goal to bring it back to 2-1, but as QPR pushed for an equaliser late on, West Brom countered with Mulumbu making it 3-1. Granero could only manage to get a late consolation for QPR.

Next for the Baggies was a visit from the champions, Manchester City. What better way to check if your side can actually compete for a top half place this season? After 20 minutes in the match, James Milner was dismissed for his tackle on in-form Shane Long. West Brom began to grow into the game more and more as it went along and on the 67th minute Shane Long opened the scoring. West Brom had been the better side for most of the match until Edin Dzeko took Gareth Barry's place. 1 minute after coming on he made it 1-1. West Brom continued to attack and they got a corner in added time. 14 seconds after Zoltan Gera delivered his corner, Man City had broken out and Edin Dzeko had scored to grab a completely undeserved Man City victory. West Brom were to suffer more injury time heartache, when Papiss Cisse deflected off an Ameobi  effort and gave Newcastle a 2-1 win at home against the Brom. But Peter Odemwingie lead the West Brom revival following their 2 straight defeats, by scoring twice to give West Brom a 2-0 win over newly promoted and bottom of the table, Southampton. Steve Clarke astonished many as he decided to drop Odemwingie for Lukaku against Wigan, following the Nigerian's brace against Southampton. This decision worked a treat against Wigan, as West Brom managed to scrape a 2-1 win at the DW Stadium. James Morrison, who returned from injury scored the first, with a Gary Caldwell O.G making it 2-0 but, Kone pulled one back a minute later for Wigan. Whilst they pressed, Wigan were unable to equalise thanks to a good performance from Ben Foster's replacement, Boaz Myhill and his well organised defence in front of him.

Can this run keep going?
Having started the season outstandingly and having performed very well against the so called 'big teams', it could be argued that West Brom's run of form has a long way left to go. Whilst West Brom have lost a couple of games this season I am of the opinion that they have played okay in every game apart from Fulham where they were totally outclassed. Looking at the very difficult run West Brom have coming up, where they play: Chelsea (H), Sunderland (A), Swansea (A), Stoke (H) and Arsenal (A), the next month could see them slowly slide down the table.

Steve Clarke has shown a strong level of tactical knowledge in recent games with his ability to mix up his forward line and midfield regularly to suit each game. Why was this not possible for Roy Hodgson to do last year? Well, Clarke has added some extremely good players to the squad in Claudio Yacob, who could easily fit into the Arsenal team currently and Lukaku on loan, who I don't believe Chelsea should have let go of, as they lack in striking options.

Prediction: 9th.
Whilst I do think the Baggies could slide down the table in the next 2 months, I believe Steve Clarke has brought a stronger sense of belief to the squad that they can in fact beat most opposition on any given day. With this in mind, I can see West Brom making a mild push for Europe, but their form late in the season could possibly cost them as well.