Roberto De Zerbi has done a huge amount of work to prepare for his Premier League “baptism of fire”.

The new head coach has been watching Albion matches and making himself very familiar with the squad he inherits from Graham Potter.

He will also be ready for his first fixture, at Liverpool a week on Saturday.

De Zerbi arrives at Albion today, although many of his players are away on international duty.

Albion chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barer said: “We have got to be realistic.

“Coming into the Premier League for the first time, coming in with a staff who are new to the Premier League, we have got to give him as much support as we can.

“We have also got to give him as much patience as we can.

“He has got six games in October and that includes Liverpool, Spurs, Man City and Chelsea.

“He is certainly going to get a baptism of fire and he is going to get to know his way around the Premier League pretty quickly."

Barber told TalkSPORT: “The one thing that impressed me when I met him was just how much knowledge he already had of us, the teams we will be playing against – including Liverpool coming up – and our players.

“The detailed knowledge he has of where they play, what foot they use, their preferred position, what kind of systems Graham had used them in.

“He had done a huge amount of work and we were all very impressed by that.”

As well as heading to Anfield, Albion visit Brentford and Manchester City next month.

They are at home to Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea.