West Brom Season Preview: Strengthened Baggies ready for improved campaign

Joleon Lescott has arrived at the Hawthorns from Man City

After narrowly avoiding relegation last season many punters will have West Brom down as candidates for the drop once again, but Mike Norman likes the signings new boss Alan Irvine has made and is predicting a good campaign for the Baggies...

Last Season

Despite three successive league defeats to end their campaign West Brom narrowly avoided relegation, finishing in 17th position, three points ahead of Norwich in 18th. Just three defeats in their first 12 games was a solid start, but just one win from their next 18 was largely to blame for the Baggies being in trouble towards the season end.

Surprisingly Steve Clarke was dismissed not long after the club's decent start and his assistant Keith Downing was put in caretaker charge from mid-December until early January. Pepe Mel was given the full-time job and despite having to wait seven games to get his first win he eventually steered the midlands club to safety. Mel and West Brom parted company by mutual consent a day after the end of the season.

Ins and Outs

Baggies fans can be happy with the tranfer business done so far by the club with some eye-catching signings completed. Nigerian striker Brown Ideye becomes the club's record transfer at 10m, and with a record of almost a goal every two games for his previous club Dynamo Kiev, he looks an exciting acquisition.

Promising ex-Liverpool youngster Andre Wisdom and experienced England international Joleon Lescott will add strength to West Brom's defense, and so too will Cristian Gamboa who enjoyed a terrific World Cup with Costa Rica. Experienced midfileder Craig Gardner has joined from Sunderland, so with no significant outgoings the Baggies look to be in a much better position than they were six months ago.

Manager

This may be Alan Irvine's first job as a Premier League manager but he is no stranger to English football following stints as boss of both Preston (guided them to the League One play-offs in 2009), and Sheffield Wednesday, before moving to Everton to manage the club's academy from 2011 until his appointment at the Hawthorns.

Lack of top-flight managerial experience shouldn't hinder Irvine, and with the signings he's made at the club he's already shown that he can identify areas that need to be strengthened before persuading his targets to join the Baggies.

Expectations

When you've just avoided the drop by one place and got no further than the third round of the two domestic cup competitions, then expectations shouldn't really be too high. But you sense with West Brom that last season was a shock to the system following an eighth-place finish the season before, and improvement is both likely and expected.

Avoiding the drop ought to be straightforward, but with a manager who knows English football and the signings the club have made I fully expect West Brom to be challenging for a top-10 finish.

Best Bet

And it's that Top 10 Finish that I believe is very achievable for West Brom this season, so at 5.85/1 at the time of writing I make this my best bet.

Ignoring the 'big seven' in the Premier League leaves 13 clubs in contention of recording a top-10 finish and I'm not so sure that I can confidently name at least three who will finish above the Baggies. In fact when you see the likes of an average Aston Villa, a poor Sunderland, depleted Southampton, and not-so-great Swansea all much shorter in the betting than West Brom then you start to think that this is a cracking bet.

Value Bet

If we're thinking the Baggies can have a better than expected season then backing them in the Handicap Winner market at 21.020/1 should give us some trading opportunities. With West Brom getting a 44pts start, even if the likes of Chelsea or Man City get to 90 points it means Irvine's men need around 46 points to be in with a chance. I believe they're very capable of accumulating such a number.