 Ranked by The Daily Telegraph as the most fierce in the region behind the Black Country derby and the Second City derby games between Aston Villa and West Brom are quite fierce . The two first met on 9 December 1882 , in the second round of the Staffordshire Cup : Villa hosted a 3 – 3 draw in front of 13 @,@ 900 fans , while in the replay West Bromwich Albion won by a single goal with an attendance of 10 @,@ 500 . On 3 January 1885 they met for the first time in the third round of the FA Cup : a goalless draw at West Bromwich Albion was followed by a 3 – 0 victory for them away at Aston Villa . The following year , both teams became founder members of The Football League . They met first in a league fixture on 19 January 1889 , Villa winning 2 – 0 at home , and again the next week in a 3 – 3 draw . The two teams met in two further FA Cup finals in the 19th century , a 3 – 0 win for West Bromwich Albion in 1892 and a 1 – 0 win for Aston Villa in 1895 . Birmingham City were relegated from the Premier League in 2011 and Wolverhampton Wanderers a season later , leaving Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion as the only West Midlands teams in England 's top division and without their respective main rivals and with Albion finishing above their nearest rivals for the second season in a row , the historic rivalry is re @-@ surfacing . At the end of the 2015 – 16 season Aston Villa were relegated leaving West Brom the only West Midlands team in the top flight for the 2016 – 17 season . 
