There are three things to bear in mind when looking at Albion’s record at home to newly-promoted teams in recent years.
The first is that it is perhaps not quite as bad as we might recall, certainly in terms of suffering defeats.
The second, for the superstitious more than anything, is that Fabian Huerzeler did not coach any of the current Ipswich squad at St Pauli.
And the third is that it was all in the past.
The Albion boss made the third of those points quite clear, albeit in a polite way, as attention at last turned to the visit of Ipswich Town.
It is more than seven years since these two clubs last met.
Chances are you have forgotten their 1-1 draw on Valentine’s night at the Amex in 2017.
A quick check of the archives reveals Tomer Hemed’s penalty cancelled out an early opener from Luke Chambers, scored at a set-piece, and Glenn Murray hit the post for Albion in stoppage time. But it was forgettable.
What has been brought more into focus this week is the Seagulls’ record against promoted teams at the Amex.
Memories remain of draws last season with Burnley and Sheffield United.
And the record over the past five seasons is poor in terms of wins, with six out of 15.
At the same time, there have been just the two defeats.
Asked about the disappointments of last season, Huerzeler said with a laugh: “I was not here!
“We try to bring a new environment, another environment, another culture and different thinking.
“Every coach thinks different and of course I know this topic.
“I’m aware of that, but I won’t make this topic big in the locker room or in the meetings because in the end it’s a new season and it’s a new style of play.
“Every league game is competitive, because it’s the Premier League and every time it’s a challenge and we try to go for this challenge.”
It was pointed out to Huerzeler that there will be a level of expectation among home fans going into these games with Ipswich and Nottingham Forest having opened with seven points from three matches.
He replied: “The expectations are always the same – to go out on a pitch and to show the basic things.
“The basic things are what you can influence.
“Winning personal duels, running more than the opponent, doing more high speed metres than the opponent. These are all things you can influence.
“That’s what I demand from my team to do it in every game, no matter if you play against Manchester United or Ipswich.
“Of course, maybe from outside the expectations are that we have to win these games.
“And in the end, we are very ambitious and if you are ambitious, you have to deal with this pressure and you have to deal with the expectations from outside.
“That’s a new challenge for us and I’m looking forward to doing this with my team because I’m convinced that we are ready for this.
“But I know and I think also my players know this will be a different challenge and we are trying to go for it. So how about that record against the new boys?
Last season kicked off with a 4-1 win over promoted Luton before the draws with Clarets and Blades.
Two seasons ago, the Seagulls made hard work of the promoted teams, losing to Fulham, drawing with Nottingham Forest and beating Bournemouth with a very late Kaoru Mitoma header.
In 2021-22, they beat Watford and Brentford before drawing 0-0 with Norwich on a day when the performance was better than the result and set the stage for an impressive end to the season.
In 2020-21, Albion beat Leeds and drew with West Brom and Fulham, the empty stands of that season making those latter two results feel even more depressing.
There were mixed fortunes in Graham Potter’s first season as Albion beat promoted Norwich, drew with Aston Villa and lost to Sheffield United.
Which brings us to the quirk that those two home defeats against promoted sides were both inflicted by goals from men playing against their old boss.
There was Oli McBurnie against his old Swansea coach Potter for Sheffield United, then Manor Solomon for Fulham against his ex-Shakhtar chief Roberto De Zerbi.
That cannot happen tomorrow. True, there’s a chance Ipswich could score through Connor Chaplin playing against his best mate Adam Webster, or a goal comes via Jens-Lys Cajuste, the man whose move to Suffolk from Napoli helped the Italian giants sign Billy Gilmour.
But Huerzeler will be concerned about the practical side of the afternoon. Not quirks or history.
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