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This is the first league meeting between West Bromwich Albion and Watford since the two sides met in the Premier League in March 2018.

The Hornets won 1-0 at Vicarage Road that day, with a late strike from Troy Deeney, but they left it even later at The Hawthorns earlier that season when they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2.

Salomon Rondon and Jonny Evans put Albion 2-0 up inside the first 21 minutes, only for Abdoulaye Doucoure to pull one back before half-time - and it was Richarlison who then headed their late leveller deep into injury time.

At second-tier level, this is the first meeting between the two teams since April 2010, when both goals came in the last five minutes at the Vic - Danny Graham scoring on 85 minutes, only for Chris Brunt to equalise.

But it was a different story earlier in the season when, on their last Championship visit to The Hawthorns, Watford suffered a Halloween horror show, losing 5-0. Jonas Olsson, Graham Dorrans, Luke Moore, Gianni Zuiverloon and Simon Cox all netted in what is the Horns' heaviest defeat in this fixture.

Rob Edwards became the Pozzo family's eighth manager in just over four years when he succeeded Roy Hodgson in June.

To bring in 39-year-old Edwards - after just one full season of managerial experience in the EFL - was quite a sea change from some of the Hornets' more recent appointments, 56-year-old Nigel Pearson, 69-year-old Claudio Ranieri and 73-year-old Roy Hodgson.

But Edwards quickly showed his mettle in leading Forest Green to the League Two title.

Image source, Rex Features

Maybe it is just the age of the Telford-born former Aston Villa, Wolves, Blackpool, Barnsley and Shrewsbury defender, as well as some of the places that he has on his CV, and the freshness of his thinking, that reminds you a bit of the Horns' most famous manager of them all, the late great Graham Taylor.

The key question, as with any Watford managerial appointment, is whether Edwards will be given the time to do the job expected of him.

But winning his first game in charge was a good start (that usually guarantees you at least another one at Watford!!!) - and a second successive victory tonight would help the Horns match the only other Championship team who have made a 100% start to the season, Blackburn Rovers.

Last season somehow turned into a bit of a nightmare for the Baggies. They started on fire under new boss Val Ismael, scoring 11 goals (and picking up 10 points) in their first four games, only to suffer such a stark loss of form that Ismael was gone by the end of January.

And, for once in his long, successful career as a Championship manager, Ismael's successor Steve Bruce was unable to engineer the sort of instant turnaround expected of him.

But, over the summer, he has injected fresh blood and fresh passion, largely based on two new faces, Jed Wallace and John Swift, and the reintroduction of an old face, Daryl Dike.

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The USA striker, Ismael's main January window signing, got injured on his first start - and missed the rest of the season. But he has had a summer to recuperate and looked sharp when he came off the bench at Boro last weekend and, assuming Albion can keep him fit, he has the potential to have the impact he had for Barnsley when he was first introduced to English football two seasons ago - although not tonight!

Dike misses tonight's game with a thigh strain, but the way Albion carved through the Boro defence to get their equaliser at the Riverside Stadium, fashioned by Wallace, scored by Swift, does hint at more goals to come.

Since the start of the 2019-20 season, Wallace has provided more assists than any other player in the Championship - and he nets his fair share too. The Albion fans will certainly be hoping that ensures the football they get treated to this time round will be a lot less boring.

Image source, Cameron Smith - Getty Images

Good evening from The Hawthorns.

All eyes are on the Midlands tonight.

First and foremost, it's the closing ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, at the Alexander Stadium.

But, just four miles up the road, it is also opening night at The Hawthorns to another season of Championship football in West Bromwich, as Albion host Watford.

Steve Bruce's Baggies began their season with an encouraging 1-1 Saturday teatime draw at Middlesbrough nine days ago, while Rob Edwards' Horns opened up 48 hours later with a 1-0 home win over Sheffield United.

Tonight they come face to face - a meeting of English football's best yo-yo teams (the last two to finish 19th in the Premier League in fact), as we start to see whether Watford, relegated in May, can make a better fist of getting back to the 'Promised Land' at the first attempt than the Baggies did last season.