As the big kick-off edges nearer, I take a look at our five

previous opening day encounters. This season the Baggies begin their campaign

with a home match against Premier League heavyweights Manchester City on Monday

night.

2010-11: Chelsea 6-0 West Brom

After securing promotion back to the Premier League, the

Baggies faced the hardest of trips to the 2009-10 champions, Chelsea. The then

West Brom boss Roberto Di Matteo, who made over 100 appearances for the Blues,

received a warm reception from the Stamford Bridge crowd. However Di Matteo’s

afternoon was quickly worsened by Florent Malouda’s early tap in after a Scott

Carson mistake. Didier Drogba opened his account for the season with a

free-kick, before he added a second in the 55th minute. Frank

Lampard netted eight minutes later and Drogba completed his hat-trick with a

shot which deflected off Gabriel Tamas. Nicolas Anelka added a late goal to

round off a miserable afternoon for Albion.

The Baggies did show glimpses of good attacking football,

but the Premier League new boys were simply outplayed by Carlo Ancelotti’s

side. The defeat still remains the largest on the opening weekend of Premier

League history.

2011-12: West Brom 1-2 Manchester United

Once again West Brom started the campaign against the

previous season’s winners as Manchester United visited the Hawthorns on the

Sunday. However, this was a tighter affair in which the Baggies were

unfortunate to not pick up a point. After replacing Roberto Di Matteo in the

2010-11 season, this was Roy Hodgson’s first full season in charge.

Wayne Rooney drilled home to give United the lead inside 13

minutes. But debutant Shane Long equalised as David De Gea could not keep out

his tame effort. The scoreline remained at 1-1 until Ashley Young’s cross was

deflected off Steven Reid and beat a helpless Ben Foster with 10 minutes

remaining. Hodgson said: “We played ourselves into the game and deserved a

result for long periods of the game, but unfortunately Young got that bit of

luck and that changed the complexion of things.”

2012-13: West Brom 3-0

Liverpool

Steve Clarke began his managerial career at the Hawthorns

with a magnificent 3-0 victory over Liverpool. Zoltan Gera’s sublime strike

gave the Baggies a 1-0 lead at half-time.

Albion were then awarded a penalty as Shane Long was brought

down by Daniel Agger, who was consequently shown a red card. However, the

Republic of Ireland international saw his spot-kick saved by Pepe Reina. But

Long nicked the ball of Martin Skrtel and was fouled by the defender inside the

box, this time Peter Odemwingie converted from 12 yards. Romelu Lukaku headed

home Liam Ridgewell’s cross to cap off an awful first game for Liverpool boss

Brendan Rodgers. This surprising win sparked a brilliant start to the campaign,

and the Baggies eventually finished eighth – a club record.

2013-14: West Brom 0-1 Southampton

Rickie Lambert scored a late penalty to give Southampton a

tight victory at the Hawthorns. A match of few chances was heading for a draw

until Youssouf Mulumbu brought down Luke Shaw inside the box. The new West Brom

signing stepped up and drilled his spot-kick past Ben Foster. On the penalty

decision, Clarke said “there’s no doubt in my mind, it’s a very soft decision”.

Albion only picked up two points from the first four matches

of the 2013-14 season, and this match was a prime example of how it took the

Baggies a while to find their form.

2014-15: West Brom 2-2 Sunderland

The Baggies had an eventful 2-2 draw with Sunderland in Alan

Irvine’s first match as head coach. After a controversial decision from Jeremy

Peace to appoint the Scot, he would have hoped for a better start as Lee

Cattermole rifled home from long-range inside five minutes. However, Berahino

equalised from the penalty spot after Valentin Roberge tangled with Victor

Anichebe inside the box before he put the Baggies ahead with a volley. Gus

Poyet and Irvine both agreed after the match that the penalty was a soft one.

The former Sheffield Wednesday manager looked set to get his managerial stint

at West Brom off to the perfect start, but Sebastian Larsson converted Patrick

van Aanholt’s cut-back with five minutes left of normal time.

As for the rest of the Premier League, click

here for five classic matches and five interesting stats in opening weekend

history.