West Brom fixtures: Opta Analyst predictor makes grim reading for Baggies fans
West Brom have the toughest opening to the season of any Championship side, according to Opta Analyst.
The Baggies missed out on the play-offs by three points last season and learnt their schedule for the 2023-24 campaign on Thursday (22 June).
On paper, it certainly looks a difficult beginning with Carlos Corberan’s side up against Blackburn Rovers, Swansea City, Leeds United, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield Town in their opening five fixtures.
Indeed, the Anaylst has used Opta Power Rankings to study the difficulty level of each side’s start and West Brom rank top for hardest start ahead of newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday.
At the other end of the spectrum, relegated Southampton – who start life back in the Championship at the Owls – are judged to have the easiest opening, with Leeds the second easiest.
Oh come on, where’s the optimism?!
Alright, the pessimism at The Hawthorns right now is pretty understandable…
The Baggies have a deeply unpopular owner, are seeing the debts mount up, have no parachute payments, captain Dara O’Shea is off to Burnley, more players could follow.
Alright, it’s not just pretty understandable it is PERFECTLY understandable.
But come on! This is fixture release day! For football fans this is meant to be exciting, almost a Christmas Eve-like feel, the return of club football coming into sight!
Forget everything else that’s going on, this is a time to be optimistic, a time to pin-point away days with your pals, a time to figure out where promotion will be won.
Admittedly, that is a very tough-looking opening for West Brom. But when exactly has football ever been easy? Games are not won or lost on paper.
Just for one day forget everything else, forget the Opta predictions and dream of what might be come May…
In other West Brom news, John Percy shares details on Dara O’Shea’s move to Burnley.