If West Brom are too defy their reputation as a yo-yo club, they will have to defend better than they did at Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the season.

Chelsea didn’t do anything special but they didn’t have to as the visitors were the architects of their own downfall.

 

But it’s too early to get carried away with the Baggies’ prospects – at least they have got perhaps their most difficult fixture of the season out of the way.

And at least they continued to stick to their principles and attempted to play a passing game after falling behind.

But the same old criticism of playing football that’s easy on the eye while leaving themselves wide open at the back will surface again.

They don’t need to change their philosophy. They need to improve their decision-making upfront and tighten up defensively.

It’s difficult to take positives out of a 6-0 drubbing but such scorelines can be immaterial. It was a pretty average display by Chelsea, while WBA defended badly. They just need to take it on the chin and move on.

Roberto Di Matteo’s side play host to Sunderland at the Hawthorns next week and it’s the type of fixture they need to take something from otherwise it could set the tone for another struggle – even at this early stage of the campaign.