West Brom have made a solid start to the English Premier League this season and could go as high as fifth if they beat strugglers Southampton in the Monday night game of the English Premier League at the Hawthorns.
The Baggies lie in ninth place on 14 points from nine games, and could go above Tottenham, if they beat Southampton by a decent margin -- a win will at least take them above Arsenal to sixth place.
West Brom, despite the strong start, have lost their last two matches - narrow 2-1 defeats to Newcastle United and Manchester City - and manager Steve Clarke is determined to set things right against the Saints.
"The lads have had that feeling when you sit in the dressing room, know you have played really well and not had your reward for it," he said. "We've had that two weeks in a row now and we look forward to Monday night so we can try and put it right.
"It feels like a bad run because we've had no points from the last two games but the performances in both games were really good. That's the message I've tried to give the players that if you continue to play like that and the performances are good, then the results will follow."
"We've played teams near the bottom in Reading and QPR so we understand the type of game it can be. Southampton are going to be coming here trying to kick-start their season. They've had some good performances. I've watched them a couple of times this year.
"They play good football, they are dangerous, they will get a lot of respect from us, but it's a chance for us to get three points."
Southampton lie rock bottom on four points from nine games, but can count themselves a little unlucky, having conceded a pile of late goals which have seen them lie in this precarious position. "We've come a hell of a long way in a short space of time," manager Nigel Adkins said. "It's often the case for a newly promoted side from a defensive point of view a lot more questions are asked about you when you move up, especially when you move up two divisions like we've done.
"There's a great vision here at Southampton and what we've got to do is make sure we keep on track with what we're doing and we need everybody to stick together.
"It's the top league in the world. So every team's going to be competitive -- every game's going to be hard. There's so much at stake for every game and we're well aware of that, we've got to take one game at a time, prepare diligently for the game, getting the players believing in themselves.
"It's going to be a good game. West Brom have got a good record at home -- are a good solid side defensively and very good on the counterattack. It's a challenge we embrace -- we've scored in all the games bar one and we've got Gaston Ramirez, our record summer signing, who trained well all week, and who should be involved on Monday night."
Along with Ramirez, who is in line for a return after missing five weeks of action due to a thigh injury, Tadanari Lee also could feature against West Brom. Defender Fraser Richardson and Jack Cork remain sidelined.
For West Brom, captain Chris Brunt and Billy Jones have recovered from their respective injuries and are in contention, while Shane Long and Claudio Yacob - both with hamstring injuries - could also be available.
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Expected lineups: West Brom: Forster, Tamas, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Mulumbu, Brunt, Morrison, Gera, Odemwingie, Lukaku.
Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Yoshida, Fonte, Fox, Schneiderlin, Davis, Puncheon, Lallana, Ramirez, Lambert.
Prediction: 2-1 to Southampton
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