[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Jeff Astle outjumps Marvin Hinton, watched by Chelsea inside-forward Terry Venables, 2nd October 1965

So, I trust everyone's enjoying the start of the new season?  Whatever your thoughts on the 180 minutes of football we've seen from Albion so far, you can't deny that it's a pretty typical way for us to kick off proceedings.  In Augusts gone by, we've ended up with a goal difference of -6 after one game (2010), made it into September without a single point (2011), or without a single goal (2013), and watched Alan Irvine buy an entire team and not field them (2014).  And of course, you can't deny that the fixture computer plays its malevolent part in all of this; mark my words, the minute that time travel's invented, we can look forward to kicking off our campaign against 1999 Manchester United and 1970 Brazil, closely followed by a team of ten-legged footy-droids from 2125 under the management of Buck Rogers.  Trust me, when it happens, you'll be begging for Man City and Mourinho.

When all's said and done, there's little to be reliably concluded from the season's opening.  Our transfer business needs to be concluded before we can fully judge how to play to our strengths, and then we need to give a month or two for the team to gel together before we can see what works and what doesn't.  In the meantime, we need points however they come.  Ideally I'd like a bit of excitement and a few goals in the process, but I'm capable of recognising that rebuilding our team to be a younger, pacier side is a long-term project.

Laurie Cunningham goes for goal against Chelsea on the opening day of the season, 20th August 1977

Chelsea have had a bit of a nightmare start of their own, only managing a point at home against Swansea before last weekend's capitulation at the Etihad.  Coupled with the humiliation they suffered at our hands back in May (and, in fact, in pretty much every visit they've paid to the Hawthorns since 2011), we know they'll be out for the kill on Sunday.  If they draw against us, it'll be their worst start to a season since 1998; if they lose, it'll be their worst since 1993.  Not to put too fine a point on it, Abramovich sacked both RDM and AVB for far less.

However, we do need to get ourselves organised and find a way of counter-attacking properly, which wasn't evident in the slightest against Man City or in the first half at Watford.  A stretched Chelsea side are very vulnerable; a Chelsea side which sets up a permanent base camp in your half, on the other hand, is going to run riot.

The world's worst Zorro film draws to an undignified conclusion, 18th May 2015

If nothing else, I hope we can avoid the gameplan flying out of the window within twenty minutes on Sunday; even a decent performance would be some consolation if the points go begging.  But a sneaky draw, and maybe even a goal to open our account for the season, would make me a happy man.

COME ON YOU BAGGIES