The opening weekend of the Premier League emphasised the extent to which the art of defending is being lost amid the thirst for excitement and goals.

The Friday night launch between Arsenal and Leicester - Albion's hosts this Saturday - set the tone.

Thrills and spills galore were of little consolation for Leicester, who scored three times away from home and lost.

Both teams conceded twice from corners. Arsenal use zonal marking, Leicester man-to-man.

The system becomes irrelevant if players do not do their jobs properly.

It is to Albion's benefit that Robert Huth was missing from the Leicester ranks after summer ankle surgery.

The German is the type of no-nonsense stopper unduly frowned upon in the modern game in some quarters, because he is a not particularly comfortable in possession.

Ideally, they can do both but, since so few can to a consistently high level, I would always take a defender who can defend first over a more talented risk.

A few hours after the demonstration of defensive incompetence at the Emirates, Liverpool were conceding limply from a corner at Watford.

Another harum-scarum crowd-pleaser, with Watford scrambling a late equaliser, but where was the defending?

The time or day made no difference, the carnage continued.

The champions leaked three goals at home to Burnley in the space of less than 20 first half minutes.

Why? Partly because the Chelsea captain and centre-half Gary Cahill got himself sent-off early on for a lunging tackle as he tried to carry the ball forward.

Cahill's 55 England caps are an indictment of how far our standards have slipped internationally.

Terry Butcher, Tony Adams, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry are just a few I can name off the top of my head who were far better in their prime.

The worst was reserved for last on Sunday, with West Ham's hammering at Old Trafford.

Arthur Masuaku's pitiful attempt at marking Romelu Lukaku when he headed his second goal from a free-kick in Manchester United's 4-0 stroll left Gary Neville aghast on the Sky Sports gantry.

Overall, in ten fixtures, seven teams shipped three goals or more.

Three of them - Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool - are supposed to be title contenders. Two of the others, Leicester and West Ham, are widely expected to finish in the top ten.

Nothing calls into question more the Premier League's right to be recognised as the best in the world than the dubious standard of the defending.

What do Mats Hummels, Diego Godin, Jerome Boateng, Giorgio Chiellini, Gerard Pique, Thiago Silva, Sergio Ramos, Andrea Barzagli have in common?

They are among the best defenders in the global game - and none of them play here.

How many of even the top teams in the country have world class centre-halves? Tottenham's Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld are probably the pick.

The Argus: Another Belgian, Vincent Kompany (above), will be key to Manchester City justifying their short odds to win the title. They never look the same side when he is out injured.

You will have noticed by now the topic of conversation has concentrated more on central defenders than full-backs.

The nature of the latter role has changed so much since Albion manager Chris Hughton's era, when essentially they were purely defenders.

They operate more often than not now more like wing-backs, even wingers. Generally speaking, full-backs are consequently not as adept at defending as they used to be. It gives them an excuse which does not apply to their central colleagues.

Hughton can be proud of the way his side defended against Man City at the Amex. It is not all about scoring goals but stopping them as well.

Whether Albion will score enough remains a matter of concern for their survival chances, but they will benefit from defending more soundly than some of the sides they are seeking to finish above.