West Bromwich Albion continued their good start in the English Premier League, while consigning bottom club Southampton to another defeat thanks to a brace from Peter Odemwingie in a 2-0 victory at the Hawthorns.
The Baggies, with the win, moved up to fifth in the table, with 17 points from ten games - Everton and Tottenham also have the same number of points, and lie fourth and sixth respectively.
In an entertaining game, both West Brom and Southampton played their parts, attacking whenever given a chance, with the superior quality of the West Brom forwards making the difference.
Odemwingie struck the first goal, rather fortuitously, in the 36th minute. The striker initially controlled the ball seemingly with his arm off a pass from Youssouf Mulumbu, before lashing a shot from just outside the box, which unfortunately for the Saints, took a wicked deflection off Maya Yoshida to nestle into the back of the net.
Odemwingie then made the game safe on the hour, off a perfect counter-attack. Shane Long ran down the left to latch onto a pass from Liam Ridgewell before cutting inside and placing a perfect cross onto the head of Odemwingie, who made no mistake from close range.
Southampton were a little unlucky not to grab a single goal in the game, with the likes of Rickie Lambert, Yoshida and Adam Lallana coming close. The Saints stay rock bottom with four points from ten matches, having lost eight of them.
West Brom manager Steve Clarke admitted getting back on track after two successive defeats was crucial if they were to stay near the top of the table for a prolonged period. "We spoke before the game about making sure we got our season back on track," he told Sky Sports. "We've had two good performances and no points and I don't think the performance was as well as we've played this year, but we controlled the game and got the win we wanted.
"The timing of the second goal was perfect for us, I thought Southampton were just starting to get a foothold in the game and we caught them on the counter with a fantastic cross from Shane Long and Peter showed a great desire to get in the box."
Clarke refused to take the credit for his side's brilliant start, saying all the plaudits must go to the players. "Like I say it's been a good start, but it's not for me to take any credit," Clarke told Sky Sports. "The players I have selected have been fantastic, they have approached every game with the right attitude and got their reward for that approach.
"I think we've said from the start we focus on the primary objective which is to make sure the Albion are in the Premier League again next year," Clarke added. "That is always the first target and we are on the way to that, we've given ourselves a real good start and we have to build on that.
"The quicker we reach the safety margin or the quicker we feel comfortable that we are going to be in the league next year we will look at other targets."
