Watford 2, Albion 0

Last season, the other Albion won their first two games and drew the next.

Much to the amusement of Seagulls supporters, traditional rivals Crystal Palace lost their first seven.

West Brom finished bottom, Palace 11th, which emphasises you cannot read anything too meaningful into results after a few matches, yet alone one.

Performances? That is another matter. You can play well and still lose but, generally speaking, it is the level of performance that governs results.

That was the most disappointing aspect of Albion's start to their second season in the Premier League.

The outcome was the same on the opening day a year ago, the feel is rather different.

Albion succumbed only in the last 20 minutes to Manchester City at the Amex, a scenario which became more creditable by the week as Pep Guardiola's side breezed past one opponent after another en route to their title romp.

Watford? They are no Man City. In fact, they have been widely tipped to fill one of the relegation places.

If you isolated the evidence at Vicarage Road, Albion looked far more plausible candidates as they evoked painful memories of their worst away displays last season at West Brom and Huddersfield.

Much has been made of the modest away record and the need to improve it.

That has to be put into context. It was about par for the course for a newly promoted team.

Misleading optimism was created by winning twice on the road by early November.

It is 14 away games without another now since relegated Swansea were beaten on home soil.

Who can tell whether Albion will do just as well again, if not even better, at the Amex? They only lost four times, but there were quite a few wasteful draws as well.

It does not matter where the points come from, as long as you end up with a tally at least in the high thirties to stay out of the bottom three.

Watford had the appearance of one of the better opportunities to end the away famine, especially as two of the next three away games are against Liverpool and the champions.

Yet their home record last season was almost as strong as Albion's and was responsible for 18 of their last 19 points.

Javi Gracia's side had no difficulty stretching the trend, such was the benevolence of the Seagulls' defending for the goals and the absence of any meaningful threat going forward until the introduction of Yves Bissouma.

The hosts may have lost Richarlison, ten-man Everton's two-goal point-earner at Wolves, but they still have Roberto Pereyra.

The Argus: The Argentinian winger, a Champions League finalist with Juventus three years ago, lashed Watford ahead on the volley (above right) when he was permitted space just inside the box from a corner. Mathew Ryan got a hand to it but the shot had too much venom to expect better from the Australian, one of the few to perform up to scratch.

Although it is well documented that Albion conceded the most goals from set pieces last season, Chris Hughton, understandably, was more aggrieved by the nature of Pereyra's second goal early in the second half, curled past Ryan from an angle from close range.

It should never have come to that. The defending by a combination of Bernardo and Anthony Knockaert was timid in allowing Jose Holebas to set him up.

Hughton said: "I'm probably more annoyed with the second goal. I regard that as really soft. The first one was a well-worked corner. We have done numerous corners that have come off and you’ve got to execute them right at the end of it. You can always get a man free and overload an area."

The Argus: Bernardo had a tough baptism. The young Brazilian, the only starter among the new signings, was switched from left to right-back when Bruno (above) limped off with hamstring trouble midway through the first half.

Watford were already in the ascendancy by then, sharp reflexes from Ryan denying Troy Deeney, but losing the calming influence of the veteran captain did not help.

Unmarked Christian Kabasele should have doubled Albion's deficit when he headed wastefully over from a free-kick. That let-off made Pereyra's preventable second goal a few minutes later even harder to take.

Dale Stephens went close with a first half volley from Bruno's cross but Albion did not manage a shot on target.

Bissouma, brought on in place of Pascal Gross in the quiet German's No.10 role rather than as a more orthodox midfielder, went closest to a reply with neat footwork and a shot just wide.

The Argus: The Mali international looks promising. Albion were more of a threat with him and record signing Alireza Jahanbakhsh (above) on the pitch in the last 18 minutes than they had been in the previous 72.

Hughton said: "If we had played well and lost it would have been disappointing but not as disappointing. We have lost and not played well."

Manchester United fell into that category when Albion beat them at the Amex in May to seal survival.

Jose Mourinho's side are unlikely to play as poorly again on Sunday. The same can be said of the Seagulls back on home soil.