Graham Potter says he keeps it simple when assessing his team’s development in the Premier League and won’t get drawn into comparing Albion with other clubs.
After finishing a record ninth in the Premier League last season, Albion head to West Ham today with four points on the board from their first two games.
Outsiders have started to think about Albion as being among those clubs best placed to challenge the top six or compete in Europe like the Hammers, but that’s something the pragmatic Potter doesn't think too much about.
“To compare us with West Ham or with Aston Villa doesn’t make sense because of different things that they have and we don’t have and vice versa," he said. "You can get yourself tied in knots just comparing your club with other teams. Certainly in terms of comparing ourselves to the top six, there is still a huge gap.
“We are us. we do our best, we try and use what we have and don’t say that we’re any better or any worse than anybody else because of our ideas. From our perspective, that’s probably the best way to look at it.”
Albion haven’t lost any of their previous ten fixtures against West Ham in the Premier League, but Potter insists that will count for little against a side who got their season up and running with a Europa Conference League win over Viborg on Thursday after they had lost their opening two League matches.
“West Ham have done really well for the last couple of years since David Moyes has gone in there. They’ve invested quite a lot in terms of their squad and had some success.
“Everybody talks about [our record against West Ham], but it’s a new season and they have made changes to their squad, and nothing counts for what you did six months, two years ago or whenever time it was. It’s about being in the moment and focusing on what you have to do to win the game."