Carlos Corberan: ‘Marathon’ Championship not relevant yet

The Baggies welcome Hull City today in a contest that sees fifth tackle seventh and much has been made of a run of fixtures ahead against six of the current top eight.

Head coach Corberan has little interest in looking too far forward but acknowledged the tough clashes against Hull and Southampton to come. He argues the slim margins between league positions render the standings insignificant at this relatively early stage.

The Spaniard added that last season’s play-off quartet of Luton, Middlesbrough, Coventry and Sunderland are an example not to peak too soon.

“The only possibility you have for any conclusion or evaluation is when you have played one game against every team and in that moment you see where you are and compare with all the other teams who have played against each other,” Corberan said.

“This still is a long time (away) with some games to arrive to this moment. I was thinking the other day, teams that achieved the play-offs last year, for example, Middlesbrough was one in the middle of the year were middle of the table.

“Luton in the middle of the year were in the middle of the table, Coventry and Sunderland in the middle of the year in the middle of the table.

“Just this example show you what the Championship is. The Championship is a marathon. It is not important where you are in the first 10 kilometres, the only important thing is where you are at the end of the league.”

Albion have played 14 league fixtures so far. The division reaches its midway point, numerically at least, after the home game against Stoke on December 16. The final club they will face for the first time this season is Norwich, who visit The Hawthorns on Boxing Day.

The head coach said of the calendar: “Every game in the Championship this year for me is a challenge. It’s not important if you are playing against teams that are one week in a better position, they can in the next week be in 17th because the difference is only three points.

“At the end every game is going to be a strong team this year, because it is impossible to think you are going to play any comfortable team.

“It’s true you play some teams in a good momentum, or then you play them in a more difficult momentum. But every game is going to be very challenging, so it is not going to change from anything we have done so far.”