Hull City's remarkable start to life in the Premier League shows no sign of petering out after a 3-0 win at West Bromwich Albion yesterday put the unfashionable Yorkshire club joint top.

Second-half goals from Kamil Zayatte, Geovanni and Marlon King clinched a fourth consecutive league victory for Hull and put them on 20 points from nine games, the same as leaders Chelsea and Liverpool.

Favourites for relegation at the start of the season, Phil Brown's cosmopolitan side have already beaten Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur away this season and will go into Wednesday's match against Chelsea in high spirits.

All a far cry from 10 years ago when the club was in financial turmoil and came within two places of falling out of the Football League.

"It is our third clean sheet on the bounce and that gives us the foundation to win games," Brown, a former assistant manager to Sam Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers, told the BBC.

"We have had a dream start with 20 points and if we repeat that in the next 10 games then I will be a happy man."

While the star of the season so far has been Brazilian Geovanni, Londoner King, who has played for Jamaica, is revelling in the top flight after his previous taste of the Premier League when at Watford was blighted by injury.

"We're not getting carried away with ourselves, but why not enjoy it while we're up there?" King said.

However, with Chelsea and Manchester United to come in their next two fixtures, King knows tough times lie ahead.

"While we're celebrating this win, we know we have another tough game to come on Wednesday, that's what the Premier League is all about. We've got Chelsea, then United so the tough games just keep coming."

While few expect Hull to be challenging for the title or a Champions League place, their start has gone a huge way to helping them survive the perils of a first season.

With 40 points usually enough to avoid relegation, Brown's pre-season mission is already half-way to being accomplished with three quarters of the season still to come.