A good time to play the champions or the worst time?

Albion will at least  know one thing as they go to the Etihad.

They will plunge Pep Guardiola’s side into uncharted territory under his command if they earn their first win away to Manchester City as Premier League action resumes.

Guardiola lost back-to-back Premier League games for only the third time as City went down 1-0 to Arsenal going into the international window.

Gabriel Martinelli’s fortunate winner for Arsenal followed Hwang Hee-chan’s for Wolves against City the previous weekend.

It was the first time City had taken no points from a pair of league games since losing to Crystal Palace and Leicester across Christmas in 2018.

Their response back then was to score inside ten minutes in the next match, at Southampton, on their way to a 3-1 win and business as usual.

Leicester were also the team to inflict City’s second successive loss in December, 2016 as Jamie Vardy fired a hat-trick when Claudio Ranieri’s side won 4-2.

Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho were suspended that day after late red cards as City lost their previous game 3-1 to Chelsea.

Again, they bounced back, this time with a 2-0 home win over Watford.

Before the Arsenal game, City were out on their own in terms of how long they had gone without back-to-back Premier League defeats.

Eighteen of the current Premier sides had lost at least two in a row at some point in 2023.

Ten of them – Burnley, Sheffield United and Bournemouth most recently, plus West Ham, Brentford, Luton, Manchester United, Wolves, Newcastle and Everton - had suffered that fate already this season.

Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Crystal Palace lost back-to-back games earlier in 2023.

Which leaves the one exception as Albion, who have not lost two in a row in the league since the early days under Roberto De Zerbi last October.

That cannot change on Saturday, of course, whatever happens against City, thanks to the 2-2 draw with Liverpool.

What could change is if Albion become the team to inflict a first hat-trick of Premier League defeats on Guardiola, whose side are alone in losing no more than two in a row since his arrival in 2016.

Arsenal and Spurs are closest with their longest run being three defeats.

Fulham had the longest losing run overall, nine games, with eight for Sheffield United and Palace.

Guardiola has twice lost three in a row across all competitions with City but that is not under threat here thanks to their Champions League success in Leipzig.

Going back further, Guardiola’s Barcelona side lost back-to-back LaLiga games only twice in four seasons, both in 2009 – first to Espanyol and Atletico Madrid, then Mallorca and Osasuna.

With Bayern Munich in May 2015, he suffered consecutive defeats to Bayer Leverkusen and Augsburg domestically.

They then beat Barcelona in the Champions League but Freiburg made it three straight league defeats.

Can Albion repeat that feat?

The fact City are coming off an indifferent run either makes this a good or bad time to play them, depending how you tend to view these things.

Either way, any psychological effect is possibly diluted by the fact two weeks have elapsed since the last game.

Rather more relevant than history, one suspects, will be the return of City midfielder Rodri from a three-match ban during which he appears to have been badly missed.

At the same time, Albion have not been at their best for sustained periods since they were last in Manchester (though their second-half performance in Marseille was perhaps better than they were initially given credit for).

That last trip to Manchester saw them kick off their first European week by beating United at Old Trafford.

Roberto De Zerbi still sees last season’s 3-1 defeat at the Etihad as a significant match in the progress of his side as they adapted to his methods and instructions. They threatened to get back into the contest in the second half, until Kevin De Bruyne produced some magic, and headed home quite encouraged.

So much so that they then routed Chelsea 4-1 in their next game.

But a win at the Etihad would be another first - and for Albion as well as Guardiola.

The Seagulls have never won at Manchester City, be it against super rich Gulf-backed hosts or the old, accident prone outfit.

Be it it at the Etihad or Maine Road.

Be it in the Premier League, the old first division or even the second tier.

For now, the tally reads two draws and 11 defeats, including three 4-0s spread across the decades.

The draws were both in the old first division days and were secured by goals from John Gregory and Andy Ritchie.

Peter Ward should have won the second of those late on and the match report read: “It was no idle pre-match boast from Jimmy Melia that the team would play open football.”

Expect “open football” again as both sides look to get back to their very best on Saturday.