Albion have gone from one extreme to another in a little more than five years.

Now fans will wait to see what it might mean as they take on the old guard at Palace.

The Seagulls are officially the youngest team in the Premier League so far this season.

They face by far the oldest when they go to Selhurst Park tomorrow.

It is a far cry from September, 2015, when Chris Hughton was developing a line-up capable of chasing and ultimately winning promotion.

Back then, they fielded the oldest line-up in the Championship season when they drew 2-2 at Bolton.

The Argus:

Players such as Bruno, Bobby Zamora, Liam Rosenior and Gordon Greer gave their XI that day an average age just short of 30.

QPR were slightly older across the season to that point but could not match that one-off XI for age.

Even two years ago, Bruno and Glenn Murray combined for the oldest goal in the Premier League in terms of combined ages of assist-provider and scorer when they conjured up the winner versus Wolves.

Ben Mayhew, head of data analysis at PA Media, has confirmed the average age of Albion’s starting XIs so far this term has been a shade under 25.

Aston Villa come next at almost 25-and-a-half, followed closely by Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City.

Palace are the only side to have an average age in excess of 29 – 29.2 years (or about 29 and 72 days) to be exact.

That puts them exactly one year per man ahead of Burnley with West Ham’s average age being spot on 28.

In case you were wondering, yes, the stats DO include Adam Lallana’s two starts so far.

Lallana, Lewis Dunk and Maty Ryan are the Seagulls’ only starters so far aged over 26.

By contrast, only two Palace players aged under 27 have started games, namely Tyrick Mitchell and summer signing Eberechi Eze.

Graham Potter was asked whether having a young side means leaning more on that older trio.

He said: “Age in itself doesn’t solve your problems or win you games.

“In theory it sounds nice (to have a young team) and it is what people want to do.

“But there is a lot of work that has to go in there because young players are in some ways really good because they have got no fear and they want to go and do exactly what they think they can, and there is a freshness.

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“At the same time there is also a process that you have to go through because they will make mistakes or their performance level will be a little bit inconsistent because they are going through a process of adapting to the league, or taking their next steps.

“But I think as a club that we understand that. We have to work with them, we have to work with the environment, with the team so that we can help them enjoy their football and feel comfortable on the pitch.

Potter was then asked whether having youngsters might make life tricky in a match against arch rivals with some wily campaigners.

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It wasn’t mentioned in this press conference but the boss had, after all, said after the Everton game that his team ended to be more streetwise.

And Palace do have one or two wily campaigners who know how to be, er, streetwise.

Potter wasn’t going to be tripped up on that one.

He replied: “Playing against Crystal Palace with the quality that they have presents problems but that’s the same in every Premier League game.

“There is another team on the pitch that have quality that can hurt you at any moment.

READ MORE: Albion study Everton defeat as they prepare for Palace

“If you look at Palace, they have got that and they have good experience as well. Roy has got them organised but they have got experienced professionals that have had really good careers and are still in their good moment.

“So, yes, we need to be smart, we need to be brave, we need to be always alert, because if you drop your focus and concentration at any point in this league, whoever you play against, you can be in trouble.”