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Prior to the last international break, West Bromwich Albion succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.

It had been preceded by a frustrating loss to Leicester - although since that 3-2 reverse on Halloween, we’ve learnt that the Foxes tend to put three past most teams these days.

Those successive beatings began a sequence of fixtures that would have produced something of a haunted look on many Albion fans’ faces.

Title-chasing Arsenal... high-flying West Ham... Tottenham, currently a conveyor belt of young, English talent for Roy Hodgson to pick from... and to round it all off, a trip to Klopp’s Anfield. Ouch.

Yet here we are, three quarters of the way through that handful of fixtures and Tony Pulis’ Baggies are five points richer.

PICTURES - Albion v Spurs: Action from The Hawthorns:

They showed grit to keep Arsenal at bay , desire to snatch a result at the Boleyn Ground and were perhaps unfortunate not to take more than one point from Spurs after a very encouraging display. Each game after falling behind to a relatively early goal, I might add.

Suddenly, the outlook is quite different, so allow me to offer something of a brighter perspective.

West Brom sit on 19 points, six clear of the perils of relegation and with quite an inviting set of fixtures on the horizon.

This is their second-best start to a Premier League campaign, second only to that of Steve Clarke’s maiden season in management which saw them third at the end of November.

James McClean and Jonny Evans are proving to be inspired acquisitions, and there may be more business to come in January.

Bournemouth, Newcastle and Stoke all visit The Hawthorns over the festive period, and there’s a trip to, at this moment in time, a managerless Swansea.

Then there’s the commencement of the FA Cup to look forward to.

Much has been made of the style of play; a lack of excitement and invention was evident in meetings with Watford, Southampton and Sunderland, among others, this season.

Beyond that, the results week by week are plainly there for all to see.

All things considered, it’s not too bad a time to be connected with West Bromwich Albion.