There is a stat doing the rounds that Albion are on the second longest winless run at home in their history.

Officially it is true. They have not tasted success on their own turf for ten games now, across two seasons.

That is two games short of the worst ever.

But older Albion fans - or those of any age with a sense of the club’s history – might argue the point.

The club’s league-only longest run without a home win is 12 games during the 1997-98 season.

Anyone with much knowledge of the club’s past will identify that as the first season spent playing at Gillingham.

And Gillingham wasn’t home.

If you are talking about a real home ground, Albion have currently equalled the worst ever run of ten with no success, which was set at the Goldstone within the 1972-73 season.

But then there are other perspectives to throw in.

One is the fact, of course, they are playing at a higher level now.

Especially when you look at their opponents in those ten games.

Manchester United twice, Liverpool twice, Chelsea and Manchester City.

Even VAR-assisted Southampton, who are high-flyers at the moment.

They drew with Newcastle on a night when they only needed a point.

Single points against West Brom and Burnley were more disappointing.

Then there is the fact that nine of those ten games have been played without the factor which, above all, is supposed to give you advantage at home - a crowd.

The other was witnessed by 2,000 who made more noise than 2,000 usually would – but not as much as 20,000-plus.

So the incentives for a win are there from a positive nature – and the more negative of not wanting to be the first team to lose to Sheffield United this season.

“I don’t think it’s that,” head coach Graham Potter said with reference to the final factor.

The stick, if you like, as opposed to the carrot.

“I think it’s determination from us that we want to play well in the game and try to win the game, that’s where the determination is.

“Our opponents’ record is none of our concern really, it’s just about us trying to play well in this match.

“Doing our best to win a game against a team that is going to be fighting for everything and up for the challenge themselves.”

Even champions lose games. Even bottom teams win them.

Potter is aware, under Chris Wilder, United could turn things around.

They will pick up points at some stage even if they never get out of the bottom three.

He said: “Chris’s teams are always very competitive, always strong, always hard to play against.

“You can have lots of factors that can affect you.

“They have had one or two injuries, the lack of crowds at Bramall Lane is a challenge for them , the margins of the Premier League.

“You can be in a bit of a situation but the respect I have for him and what he has done, and that team and the club, is enormous.

“They will be fighting for everything, that’s for sure.”

The winless run keeps getting mentioned.

This is the third time Albion have failed to win any of their first six of a season at home, following 1970-71 and 2008-09.

The worst ever is seven when they battled against the Championship odds at Withdean in 2002-03.

The last defeat of that run? To Sheffield United, under the command of referee Phil Prosser.

READ MORE: Albion's unsung hero in time of goalkeeping change

Their current series dates back to the first restart fixture, versus Arsenal.

If they miss out tomorrow, Albion will have only one home league win in a year, since Bournemouth on December 28, by the time they next walk out at the Amex, to face the Gunners again.

It remains to be seen whether there is any advantage from having played 24 hours before Sheffield United in this busy week.

There is respite over the coming seven days before matches against West Ham and Arsenal in quick succession.

Potter’s attitude to the workload is to just get on with it.

He said: “Christmas traditions – turkey, Christmas crackers and managers complaining about the turnaround in games!

“Sometimes it’s fair, sometimes it isn’t. It’s less fair for Sheffield United this time with their recovery time.

READ MORE: Potter feels for injured Izquierdo

“It’s less fair for us when we play Arsenal, because they have got an extra day.

“There’s nothing we can do, we don’t set the schedules.

“You just have to accept it and get on with it as best as you can.

“In an ideal world it will look different but I don’t think it’s ever going to be that way.

“We talk about it but it’s never going to change.

“It’s nothing I can control.”