After the elation of beating Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday and the excitement of signing Daniel Sturridge on Monday evening, Arsenal managed to capitulate against Swansea on Tuesday evening to send the Baggies bottom of the table ahead of last night’s game at the Etihad.
While Baggies fans may have hoped for an upset, that was always dependent on City having an off day, and they were very much on it. As the old saying goes, Albion were lucky to get nil as Guardiola’s team demonstrated why they are 15 points clear at the top of the Premier League by sweeping aside the league’s bottom side with relative ease.
Albion can perhaps point to a slightly under strength team without Evans, Livermore and Gibbs, and losing Krychowiak after half an hour, but with City in that mood, it was always going to be tough. We now move on to the matter of a home game with Southampton which has become near enough a must-win game for the Baggies as they look to get themselves back in the pack. It will take a three goal win for Albion to move ahead of Southampton, but any three pointer will but them back in the mix.
In the Great Escape season, game 25 was gut-wrenching as Robert Earnshaw looked to have beaten relegation rivals, Crystal Palace, with a goal to put the Baggies up on the stroke of full time, only for Aki Riihilahti to score a stoppage time equaliser.
After that match, the bottom four looked as follows.
| Premier League Relegation Battle – 1st February 2005 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
| 17. | Crystal Palace | 25 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 29 | 39 | -10 | 22 |
| 18. | Southampton | 24 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 25 | 39 | -14 | 18 |
| 19. | Norwich City | 24 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 23 | 46 | -23 | 17 |
| 20. | West Brom | 25 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 21 | 46 | -25 | 17 |
Here are the full season by season comparisons.
| Home | Away | Season End | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Posn* | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Posn | Pts | |
| 2002/2003 | 25 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 19 | 37 | 20 | 18th | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 21 | 8 | 19th | 26 |
| 2004/2005 | 25 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 21 | 46 | 17 | 20th | 2 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 21 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 5 | 17th | 34 |
| 2005/2006 | 25 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 23 | 32 | 26 | 17th | 6 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 15 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 7 | 19th | 30 |
| 2008/2009 | 25 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 24 | 47 | 22 | 20th | 5 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 24 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 5 | 20th | 32 |
| 2010/2011 | 25 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 31 | 48 | 26 | 16th | 5 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 13 | 29 | 8 | 11th | 47 |
| 2011/2012 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 29 | 35 | 29 | 14th | 2 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 19 | 21 | 10th | 47 |
| 2012/2013 | 25 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 34 | 35 | 34 | 9th | 7 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 12 | 23 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 23 | 11 | 8th | 49 |
| 2013/2014 | 25 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 29 | 37 | 23 | 18th | 3 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 23 | 9 | 17th | 36 |
| 2014/2015 | 25 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 24 | 34 | 26 | 14th | 4 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 19 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 11 | 13th | 44 |
| 2015/2016 | 25 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 23 | 32 | 29 | 14th | 4 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 18 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 13 | 14th | 43 |
| 2016/2017 | 25 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 34 | 31 | 37 | 8th | 7 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 14 | 23 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 14 | 10th | 45 |
| 2017/2018 | 25 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 19 | 34 | 20 | 20th | 2 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 7 | ||
| Comparison of Equivalent Fixtures^ | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| 2016/2017 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 31 | 41 | 30 |
| 2016/2017 Results | Manchester City (A) | L | 1-3 | ||||
| Southampton (H) | L | 0-1 | |||||
Results
| 2002/2003 | 01/02/2003 | Manchester City (A) | W | 2-1 | Clement, Moore |
| 2004/2005 | 01/02/2005 | Crystal Palace (H) | D | 2-2 | Campbell, Earnshaw |
| 2005/2006 | 04/02/2006 | Blackburn Rovers (H) | W | 2-0 | Campbell, Greening |
| 2008/2009 | 07/02/2009 | Newcastle United (H) | L | 2-3 | Fortuné (2) |
| 2010/2011 | 05/02/2011 | Manchester City (A) | L | 0-3 | |
| 2011/2012 | 12/02/2012 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) | W | 5-1 | Odemwingie (3), Olsson, Andrews |
| 2012/2013 | 03/02/2013 | Tottenham Hotspur (H) | L | 0-1 | |
| 2013/2014 | 08/02/2014 | Crystal Palace (A) | L | 1-3 | Thievy |
| 2014/2015 | 11/02/2015 | Swansea City (H) | W | 2-0 | Ideye, Berahino |
| 2015/2016 | 06/02/2016 | Newcastle United (A) | L | 0-1 | |
| 2016/2017 | 11/02/2017 | West Ham United (A) | D | 2-2 | Chadli, McAuley |
| 2017/2018 | 31/01/2018 | Manchester City (A) | L | 0-3 |
Next Matches
| 2002/2003 | 08/02/2003 | Bolton Wanderers (H) | D | 1-1 | Johnson |
| 2004/2005 | 05/02/2005 | Norwich City (A) | L | 2-3 | Earnshaw, Richardson |
| 2005/2006 | 11/02/2006 | Fulham (A) | L | 1-6 | Campbell |
| 2008/2009 | 22/02/2009 | Fulham (A) | L | 0-2 | |
| 2010/2011 | 12/02/2011 | West Ham United (H) | D | 3-3 | Dorrans, Thomas, Reid (o.g.) |
| 2011/2012 | 25/02/2012 | Sunderland (H) | W | 4-0 | Odemwingie (2), Morrison, Andrews |
| 2012/2013 | 11/02/2013 | Liverpool (A) | W | 2-0 | McAuley, Lukaku |
| 2013/2014 | 11/02/2014 | Chelsea (H) | D | 1-1 | Anichebe |
| 2014/2015 | 21/02/2015 | Sunderland (A) | D | 0-0 | |
| 2015/2016 | 13/02/2016 | Everton (A) | W | 1-0 | Rondón |
| 2016/2017 | 25/02/2017 | AFC Bournemouth (H) | W | 2-1 | Dawson, McAuley |
| 2017/2018 | 03/02/2018 | Southampton (H) |
* Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the Premier League table after all fixtures for that day have been completed.
^ Fixtures against promoted clubs are compared against fixtures against the relegated clubs from last season with the club finishing 1st in the Championship compared against the club finishing 18th in the Premier League, 2nd compared with 19th and the play-off winners compared against the club who finished bottom.