Mark Hughes was among the few who weren't surprised. A glance at the Premier League table just after his Fulham team had been beaten by West Brom two weeks ago, however, caused a few ripples. There were the Albion, fourth in the table and ahead of both Manchester United and Arsenal with as much as a quarter of the season gone. From the Championship to the Champions League places. And not just because of a quirk of the opening day. It was an unprecedented height for a club widely expected to plunge right back down. Again. Not that Hughes was thinking that way from his knowledge of his opposing manager and former Chelsea teammate, Roberto Di Matteo.

"At one stage he opened a restaurant, before he tried management. It seems whatever he turns his hand to he's capable of making a cracking job of it."

Not to mention finally cracking the image of West Brom as a yo-yo club. For the moment, at least, it looks very much like they're going places rather than straight back down. Whether those places are actually the Champions League qualifiers is still probably a ludicrous proposition.

It's 16 seasons since a newly-promoted team has actually stayed the distance and finished in the top four. Then, there was only a Uefa Cup place for an exciting Nottingham Forest side spearheaded by Bryan Roy and Stan Collymore. One of those players was a World Cup star, the other about to become Britain's most expensive player. Di Matteo doesn't have those kinds of resources. And, although he may well prove himself an alchemist, he actually hasn't entered that esteemed list of managers in that regard just yet.

In the 32 years since Brian Clough's Forest team did the now-unthinkable and won the title immediately after getting promoted, 10 other clubs brought what West Brom have and blazed a trail in the first quarter of a season (see panel, right). So Di Matteo merely joins a list that includes admitted luminaries like Kenny Dalglish, Howard Wilkinson and John Toshack but also Paul Jewell, Bryan Robson, Frank Clark, John Docherty, Ken Brown and the now notorious Phil Brown.

Some kept up and kicked on. Dalglish's Blackburn had the money to maintain their position in the 1992-93 season and win the league two years later. Clark's Forest team followed them and even gave then champions Manchester United a fright by winning at Old Trafford. Toshack's Swansea went from England's bottom tier to ultimately sixth in the top flight in four seasons, only to then tumble right back down the divisions just as swiftly.

The majority, however, faded into the middle. On Monday, against another newly-promoted side making strides – Blackpool – two red cards saw West Brom slip back. And today they face a testing match against an under-fire Manchester City. Here, as Di Matteo said during the week, is where we see what the team is really made of. Not that the inevitable drop-back should discourage them. What's important is maintaining the form overall. Indeed, two of the most celebrated promoted teams didn't even reach as high as fourth in the opening few games. Graham Taylor's Watford kept on rising until they entered a title battle with Liverpool in 1983 and ultimately finished second, while Ipswich claimed fifth and a Uefa Cup place by the end of the 2000-01 season.

The latter's exploits will be exactly a decade ago by the end of the season, however. And that's something a realist like Di Matteo will be all too aware of. Economic logic dictates that West Brom simply can't keep up this kind of momentum. The reason that cases of newly-promoted sides leaping up the table were so common right up to the mid-'90s was because the chasms between cash-flows weren't as vast. And, as such, neither were the differences in quality.

Perhaps it's not a coincidence, however, that West Brom have made such a wave in a time when the bigger clubs are beginning to feel the effects of financial restriction, when they try and meet Uefa's financial fair-play requirements. Whether or not we are witnessing the beginning of a newly meritocratic era in the Premier League, though, the admirable character Di Matteo has instilled in West Brom should not be discounted either.

After all, they've already played their three toughest games of the season and come away with a very reputable record. Okay, the season started with a dreadful 6-0 defeat to Chelsea but that was more than offset by victory over Arsenal and a 2-2 comeback at Old Trafford.

Indeed that match at United was one of five – in other words, half their season so far – in which West Brom came from behind to claim points. Di Matteo has filled them with a fearless spirit, reflected in those rescue acts and their courageously rampaging play. The pace of Peter Odemwingie and bravery of Chris Brunt have embodied Albion's joyfully irreverent style.

"We like to play as much football as we can. We want to impose ourselves and our beliefs on to games. That's the way we want to win."

Not that there aren't a few security latches on their wings either. Di Matteo hasn't completely ignored any anxieties in the manner that ultimately saw his predecessor Tony Mowbray get West Brom relegated in 2009. "We've been working on the defensive side because it was a weakness but it's not really our aim to just sit back and play on the break." Importantly, none of those teams who previously made such eye-catching starts went down in those seasons. Even Hull, who suffered a seismic drop in form, had done enough to escape relegation on the last day with an actual defeat to United in 2009. And that hasn't escaped Di Matteo's attention.

"It's like when you're a farmer," Di Matteo claimed recently. "You want to bring as much hay into your store as possible, ready for the long winter. That's what we're trying to do. Because it is still going to be a harsh winter... So we have to know we have some hay there – and we have nowhere near enough yet."

For a team that has already made such a habit of lasting the distance and overcoming atrocious starts to matches themselves, an encouraging one to the campaign will surely only stand to them. At this stage, anything else would be a genuine surprise.

mdelaney@tribune.ie

FA Premier League: West Brom v Manchester City, The Hawthorns, 3.00