The fixture list could have not dealt a much harder opening game for West Brom as they will have to host two-time Premier League winners Manchester City to start the season.
The first six
Tony Pulis could probably have thought of better ways to start his first full season in charge of West Brom than a game against City, and things don't get much easier after the opening match. The Baggies also have to go up against another three of last season's top eight in their opening five games in the form of home games against champions Chelsea, high-flyers Southampton and a trip to Stoke City.
Their other two games in this opening period are pretty tricky as well. There are away trips to play newly-promoted Watford, in what will be their first home game back in the big time, along with a Midlands derby against Aston Villa by the time mid-September has rolled around. The Baggies will be fearful having struggled at the start of last season picking up just two points from their first five games.
The festive period
The holiday season is always a crucial time for Premier League clubs with a lot of points up for grabs in a short space of time. This will be no different for West Brom, who have been given a winnable few games in this period. Three of their four games around Christmas and New Year are at the Hawthorns.
From the 19th of December to the 2nd of January the Baggies will host promoted Bournemouth, lowly Newcastle United and close rivals Stoke with their only away trip in these two weeks being a boxing day clash against Swansea City. This was a bad period for the club last year, which culminated in the main reason Pulis replaced Alan Irvine as club manager.
Rivalary games
In truth West Brom are still without their closest rivals in the Premier League right now with Wolverhampton Wanderers narrowly missing out on the Championship playoffs last season meaning a 'Black Country' derby in the league will have to wait at least one more year.
The next team to turn to for the Baggies then is West Midlands neighbours Aston Villa, who as already mentioned are opponets early in the season with the September 19th clash at Villa Park, where West Brom suffered defeat twice in four days in March last term. Villa beat them 2-1 in the League and 2-0 in the FA Cup quarter finals, which means the Baggies will be keen for revenge this coming campaign. The reverse fixture at the Hawthorns comes on the 23rd of January a game decided by Craig Gardner against his former club in December of last season.
The run-in
West Brom's last few games of the season are intriguing, as they face top teams just as in their first six games. They'll have the reverse fixture with Manchester City along with a trip to Tottenham to deal with before finishing the season at home to Liverpool.
Amongst those games though, they also host West Ham United as well as facing two of the newly promoted teams in the shape of Watford at the Hawthorns and Bournemouth in their final away game of the season with the need for points most likely high. However, the Baggies had to play Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in their last six of this past season and still picked up a tally of seven points from those games alone.
Final thoughts
West Brom fans would probaly take mid table safety again as realastically what else can they aim for with the size of the club they are and the budget Tony Pullis will have, which will most likely not be too high. Another good fist of things in a cup competition like in the FA Cup last season would definitley please the fans.
On the basis of the fixtures they need to take advnatage of the games against Watford and Villa in their first six are they could be in a whole early and the season, which might make the trigger happy board fire again. Holding onto striker Saido Berahino I think will be the main concern for everyone at West Brom this summer.