Burnley came to the Hawthorns as promotion favourites. They left having been outrun, outworked, and out-thought by a West Brom side that, right now, looks like nobody's idea of an easy afternoon.

A 3-1 comeback win. Second in the Championship. Three wins from three in all competitions. James Morrison telling his players to "stay humble." If this is West Brom keeping their feet on the ground, the rest of the division should be paying attention.

Price Puts Albion On His Back

It started badly for the Baggies. Callum Styles put through his own net in the eighth minute, turning Jacob Bruun Larsen's cross into his own goal off his left heel — though West Brom had legitimate grievance about a foul on Felix Horn Myhre in the buildup, 70 yards away from where it mattered. The goal stood, and Burnley had their platform.

It lasted exactly ten minutes. Harry Whitwell, 20 years old and collecting his first league goal for the club, slotted low past Max Weiss from 12 yards after Burnley were wrongfooted by Jimmy-Jay Morgan's flick-on from Isaac Price's cross. Bashir Humphreys failed to clear, and Whitwell punished it. One-all at 18 minutes, and the game was properly alive.

Bruun Larsen went closest to a Burnley second when he sidefooted against the foot of the post from Marcus Edwards's cross. That's as good as it got for them.

Half-time came with the scores level, but Morrison clearly sensed something. "I felt like Burnley couldn't handle our intensity," he said afterwards, "and I could smell that at half-time, so the message was to up the intensity." Straightforward. No mystery. Just a manager who knew exactly what he had.

One-Way Traffic After The Break

The second half belonged entirely to Price. Forty-six seconds after the restart, he curled the ball into the far corner with Weiss stranded five yards off his line. The goalkeeper had no answer — he'd effectively given Price the invitation and the Northern Ireland international didn't think twice.

Burnley threw on three substitutes in the 57th minute — Ugo Raghouber, Zeki Amdouni, and Dastan Satpayev. Amdouni tested Max O'Leary with a rising effort from 20 yards that flew straight at the keeper. That was about the sum of Burnley's threat.

Price finished it from the spot after Humphreys upended Whitwell for a clear penalty. He sent Weiss the wrong way, firing low to the right. Game over. Burnley head coach Nicky Hayen didn't try to dress it up: "We had problems and no solutions. I didn't expect this — it was an eye-opener for everyone, myself included."

Worth noting: Burnley were without Zian Flemming, their star striker absent through injury amid heavy transfer speculation. Make of that what you will — but eleven versus eleven, West Brom were better in every department that counts.

Morrison also had to defend Aune Heggebø, who missed the match after a retrospective two-match FA ban for "deception of a match official" — the incident where his goal against Norwich went in off his hand. Albion have appealed. Morrison was unequivocal: "He was deemed to have cheated the referee which he didn't." With [Chelsea adding bodies this window](/getohedz/football/argentinas-barco-joins-chelsea-from-strasbourg) and the upper end of the football pyramid doing its usual summer business, it's easy to overlook what's building in the Championship. Don't.

Verdict

West Brom are not a story yet. Three games is three games. But the identity is clear — intensity, work rate, and a player in Isaac Price who can unlock games on his own. Burnley looked like a side with problems they haven't solved. The Baggies looked like a side that knows exactly what it's doing.

Stay humble, Morrison says. Fine. But we'll be watching.