Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo insists he is not interested in record books as his side chase their place in the Hawthorns history books.

The Baggies can equal a club-record nine-match unbeaten start to a League season if they avoid defeat at home to Crystal Palace tomorrow.

But the table-topping head coach is adamant promotion is his only ambition with statistics not on his agenda.

The Italian said: “All I’m interested in is to get the club back into the Premier League to be honest. All these records and awards don’t mean much to me.

“I’m interested in the end result – that’s all that counts to me.”

But Di Matteo’s team would take their place in the record books with a point or better tomorrow, with their unbeaten start to the League campaign already spanning eight matches.

The current club record was set at nine in 1953/54 by Vic Buckingham’s legendary team, which included the likes of Ronnie Allen, Ray Barlow, Joe Kennedy and Len Millard and went on to be runners-up to Wolves in the First Division and win the FA Cup.

The record was matched in 1999 by Brian Little’s team, although they drew seven and won two of their opening nine games compared to seven wins and two draws for Buckingham’s men.

The 1953 sequence was ended by a home defeat to Charlton and another South London side, Neil Warnock’s Palace, stand between Di Matteo’s men and their slice of history tomorrow.

Di Matteo said: “They had a difficult start to the season, which is probably related to their financial problems.

“They’ve found a little bit of form lately and produced a couple of good results. They brought in a few loan players towards the end of the transfer window, and Neil Warnock’s teams are always difficult to play against and difficult to beat.

“We are missing a few key players as well, which will make it a very difficult afternoon.”

Di Matteo’s side delivered a loud message to the rest of the Championship last Saturday with their 5-0 success at fellow promotion fancies Middlesbrough.

And the head coach is well aware that his players must now deal with the burden of expectation.

He said: “Probably, people expect us to win every game. But football is unpredictable. As long as our players give 100 per cent and put the effort and commitment in, that’s all I can ask for as a manager.

“At the end of today if the other team has been better or had a bit of fortune on their side or whatever, then you have to hold your hands up.

“But we’re always going to go home knowing we’ve done our job the best we can in that game.”

Defender Gianni Zuiverloon will be looking to continue his own solid recent form with another sound display against the Eagles.

But the young Dutchman is expecting Neil Warnock’s side – and other forthcoming opponents – to adopt a belligerent approach against the Baggies.

Zuiverloon said: “I think they will sit back and put 10 men behind the ball and try to defend as well as they can, so it will be difficult for us to get through them.

“But we just have to play our own game, like we have in the last matches.

“At home we have our crowd behind us and I think we have to win this game. If we keep on winning games a lot of teams will be the same because they will see how we play – very comfortable on the ball and scoring a lot of goals.

“We are top of the league so everybody knows what we’re capable of.”

But Zuiverloon knows the Baggies will enter tomorrow’s match in perfect spirits after last weekend’s success on Teesside.

The full-back said: “It’s a big signal to the other teams in the league with how well we’re doing.

“It shows our confidence is not low because of relegation. We have stayed strong as a team and stayed together and we are having better results. “