Huddersfield Town 2, Albion 0

Albion, right now, are in a bit of a corner in more ways than one.

They will remain trapped if they continue to play as poorly as they did against the team they finished 12 points above in the Championship last season.

It was not their heaviest defeat but it was, by some way, their worst performance in the Premier League, bearing in mind the opposition.

It is one thing to lose 2-0 to Manchester City, Arsenal and Leicester, 5-1 to a Liverpool team capable on their day of cutting most of their rivals to ribbons.

Huddersfield? Yes, they are strong at the noisy St John Smith's Stadium, where Manchester United were beaten and City needed a late winner after falling behind.

David Wagner's energetic side, nevertheless, had lost their last four in a row, shipping 13 goals and scoring once in the process, so they were not exactly in rude health.

Glenn Murray had scored as many goals in his previous seven appearances (five) as they had managed collectively in their last 11 matches, yet they won in a canter. It is hard to imagine they will have a more comfortable victory all season.

Chris Hughton said in the build-up Albion would have to be better than they were in the corresponding fixture in February, when they lost 3-1. They were worse.

On that night they were overwhelmed by Huddersfield's intensity. The hosts did not need to play that well to establish a commanding lead by the break this time. It was handed to them by poor defending, not once but twice.

Corners have suddenly become a real problem. That was the route to Stoke's second goal in their draw at the Amex and United's fortunate winner at Old Trafford, via a Lewis Dunk deflection.

Albion were undone initially by Liverpool not by an incisive attack but a routine header from a corner.

The Argus: Huddersfield exploited the growing weakness to take an early lead. Tom Ince's delivery was flicked on by Christopher Schindler for Steve Mounie to chest in unmarked at the far post (above).

Hughton conceded defending at corners has developed into a concern. "That is what I am mostly disappointed about," he said. "We were very much in the game for 30 minutes against a very good Liverpool team. You know they can open you up at any moment.

"What you don't want to do is concede from a corner. That changes things. That's a real disappointment and, at this moment, a problem.

"It's about people doing their jobs, people working as hard as they can on the training pitch. Setting yourself up right. We will never not be prepared - every club is.

"That's why some go from marking man-to-man to zonal, because they go through a bad period. But ultimately you've got to make sure you defend better."

Dunk must be cursing Gareth Southgate's timing. The England coach witnessed his least convincing display of the season at the heart of a general defensive malaise.

Huddersfield's and Mounie's second goal, just before the break, also evolved from a corner, punched somewhat unconvincingly away by Mathew Ryan.

His Australian World Cup colleague Aaron Mooy delivered a cross which Mathias Zanka headed back for Mounie to nod in, although Ryan ought to have done better.

Injury-hit Mounie justified Wagner's decision to hand his record signing from Benin his first home start since August. Mounie could have gone away with the match ball but scooped a second half chance over the bar.

Hughton's selection came under contrasting scrutiny from supporters. He awarded Ezequiel Schelotto his first Premier League start at the expense of Anthony Knockaert (below), who was left out altogether.

The Argus: Markus Suttner also returned at left-back in place of Gaetan Bong, who struggles to play three games in a week due to a knee issue.

It did not help that Schelotto resembled a fish out of water and was hooked at half-time but Hughton was right to point out his choices had nothing to do with the soft manner in which the goals were given away.

Knockaert has not been setting the world alight this season. Even in the Championship, where he was top dog, the Frenchman generally performed better at the Amex than away from home.

Solly March, who took over from Schelotto for the second half, and record buy Jose Izquierdo, who scored Albion's last goal from open play against Stoke four-and-a-third games ago, have also not been in the best of form lately.

The real difficulty for Hughton is that performance levels throughout the team, Old Trafford apart, have dropped a notch or two since the last win at Swansea prior to the international break.

The run of fixtures Albion are in now always looked tough on paper and that is the way it is panning out. It is not a cause for panic - periods like this were inevitable and others in the congested bottom half of the table are on bad runs too - but a resumption of reliable defending and degree of attacking vigour cannot come quickly enough.

Especially with Hughton's old club Tottenham lying in wait on Wednesday at Wembley, where they returned to form by destroying Stoke.

The absence of any meaningful response in the second half to a difficult but not insurmountable deficit was disturbing. Leaking cheaply at one end and not looking like scoring at the other is a damaging combination, fatal if it sustains.