Can West Brom Continue To Punch Above Their Weight ?

Where will your side finish in 2012-13? With the season just one week away, our pundits have put our heads together to give you a comprehensive set of predictions.

Opinions and analysis on all 20 Premier League clubs are given here by 12 of our writers and pundits here at HITC Sport. On the basis of the predictions from our 'daring dozen' we have calculated how the table will look come next May.

How does it work? All the predictions are totalled together, the team with the lowest score will finish 1st, and the highest will finish 20th. Here are the predictions for your club.

Verdict - West Brom will finish in: 16th

Highest prediction: 12th, Lowest prediction: 20th. 

Dan Coombs: 16th; Steve Clarke's first foray into first team management may not go so smoothly, but expect him to last the season. He has bought well, but making his mark on the squad won't be easy. They will be back in the relegation mix, or close to it, but they should have enough about them to avoid the drop. Scoring goals could be a bit of a problem if Peter Odemwingie does not recapture the form of 12 months ago.

Vic Daniels: 12th; No more boing boing, as WBA consolidates its PL slot

Mathew Nash: 13th; Star Player – Ben Foster. Top Scorer – Chris Brunt. Another successful consolidation for West Brom this season as new manager Steve Clarke can continue the stability of Roy Hodgson’s reign next season. Ben Foster will have to perform well at The Hawthorns whilst Chris Brunt will, as ever, be very important to the team. However I feel this is the first of many teams that could face relegation this season with a string of bad results.

Tomo Taka: 17th; Hiring Steve Clarke in his first managerial position following supporting positions with Kenny Dalglish and Jose Mourinho is a gamble by West Brom. They finished 10 th last season but with Roy Hodgson before the England job came calling and will struggle to finish that high up again this year. What will just save them is the quality of players that see them stay up. Star player: Ben Foster. Ben Foster made a permanent move to the Hawthorns this summer and he will see a lot of action this upcoming season as the rest of team struggle. He could however be the difference between survival and relegation. West Brom will stick by manager Steve Clarke but my fear is he will struggle as he adapts to the lead managerial role. His comprehensive knowledge of the Premier League in his past roles will hold him in good stead.

Jake Lane: 20th; West Brom were just starting to feel settled in the Premier League under Roy Hodgson, then England came calling. Steve Clarke will have it all this year but being a number two and the man at the helm are two very different kettles of fish- don’t expect him to make it past December. A shocking season will be the result of an unsettled squad with a man without a plan calling the shots.

Nigel Owen: 12th; Steve Clarke ventures out on his managerial career, and is starting to build from the back with the £4m permanent signing of Ben Foster, after he spent last season on loan at the Hawthorns. He may find it difficult to continue the progression of 11th to 10th that Roy Hodgson oversaw, but there is a solid enough squad, without any prima donnas or trouble makers, that should allow him to find his feet in mid-table. As with many sides, he would like a 20 goal a season striker, but Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long managed 18 between them from 49 starts last season, so that will be his starting pair. If Ben Foster stays up to his standards of the previous two seasons, then Steve Clarke will have enough of a safety net to secure mid-table obscurity in his first season.

Surya Solanki: 17th; An inexperienced manager and limited transfer opportunities, West Brom are set for a tough 2012-13 season ahead. However, I see the team good enough to avoid relegation but falter and just grind out results throughout the season.

Paul Moore: 16th; They always punch above there weight and I can see a hard season ahead. Should be good to see if Steve Clarke can be a number one. Keeping hold of Shane Long is a must.

John Aggrey: 18th; They should be 18th because; Come on people, Hodgson is gone! So then who steps in? Steve Clarke, a rookie I would say, yes he’s been assistant manager for a while in around three clubs but as a manager? First stint it is. Under Hodgson West Brom thrived really well and with Clarke having his first go at the hot seat, expect not so good results, a relegation for me is on the cards. Their main star should be Odemwingie. The Nigerian International has been in good form since he joined this team and praying nothing has changed, a season of 20 plus goals should be on the cards for him. Biggest Challenge; After a good season last time, the blue and white stripes will be hoping Steve Clarke comes to the party and settles in very fast.

Naveenan Thanendra: 17th; Losing Roy Hodgson is a huge blow to West Brom. He took a struggling team and made them a well drilled premier league side. While they have replaced him with the highly rated Steve Clarke, it is continuing the progress made under Hodgson that will be the greatest challenge. The addition of Markus Rosenberg takes some of the goal scoring burden off Odemwingie, but they will required the Nigerian forward to continue his good form for the club if they are to survive. A major worry is their lack of strength in depth in defence and if not addressed soon, it could be a factor in West Brom’s involvement in a relegation dog fight.

Keval Shah: 17th; With some talented players in their squad, West Brom should just have enough to stay up. After being the right hand man for a number of clubs, Steve Clarke finally has the opportunity to demonstrate his managerial talents, and it is evident West Brom will once again rely on Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long to spearhead their attack.

Khiam Barry: 11th; The appointment of Steve Clarke and his promise of a ‘ruthless streak’ will mean that West Brom will be hard to beat this season, a philosophy that Roy Hodgson introduced to the Hawthorn’s during his time there. Ben Foster in goal is a top keeper and Shane Long provides a potent attacking threat.

Connor Jipps: 20th; West Brom have firmly established themselves as a Premier League side under the guidance of former manager and current England boss Roy Hodgson, but they may find themselves fighting in the relegation battle as opposed to aiming for the higher ground. Steve Clarke has finally secured a managerial job having sat as Number two to various managers for such a long time, and he will need to quash the idea that good assistants don't make good managers. In the Transfer window West Brom have done reasonably well it has to be said with Ben Foster signing for just £4 million, bringing calm and direction to the defence that showed little in their final game of the season against Arsenal with the now departed Marton Fulop between the sticks. Yassine El Ghanassy could prove to be a masterstroke of a signing with the Belgian winger having already received a call up from his International side at the tender age of 20 and well travelled Markus Rosenberg will hope to provide some serious competition to Shane Long and Peter Odemwingie up top. Within the current squad there remains good hardworking players who will give the team 100% such as Mulumbu, Brunt and Gera, all players that have improved beyond measure in their spells at West Brom and Swedish central defender Jonas Olsson will help to keep the defence in good shape should he remain at the Hawthorns amid rumours of a departure. However there is a lack of truly quality players within the side and much of their success over the last few years has been due to the team cohesion and strong core that Roy Hodgson installed. If Steve Clarke fails to have his set of players working for each other as they did under Hodgson, I fear that there is not enough quality in the ranks to push them over the line. The Baggies have opted for a relatively straightforward set of fixtures over pre-season but it could jump up and bite them as in the first four games they have to play Liverpool, Spurs, Everton and Fulham, all teams that have plenty of quality and will most likely be punished if they aren't well prepared. I think that West Brom will struggle to pick up more than two points from these opening four fixtures and it will set the Midlanders up for a tough season ultimately concluding in relegation. Sorry WBA fans.

Full predicted table: (1) Manchester City, (2) Manchester United, (3) Chelsea, (4) Arsenal, (5) Tottenham, (6) Liverpool, (7) Newcastle, (8) Everton, (9) Fulham, (10) Sunderland, (11) Aston Villa, (12) Stoke, (13) QPR, (14) Swansea, (15) West Ham, (16) West Brom, (17) Norwich, (18) Reading, (19) Wigan, (20) Southampton.

Where do you believe West Brom will finish next season?

image: © hisgett