West Brom 2, Albion 0

Chris Hughton and his Albion players have done remarkably well to stay out of the Premier League relegation zone since securing their first win at home to West Brom at the start of September.

Four months on, the extra quality of the division is beginning to catch up with them. The aim to stay up is running out of steam.

Only one Albion looked equipped to survive at the Hawthorns. It was not Hughton's team as West Brom ended a run of 20 games without a win with alarming comfort.

The manager and his players need help in what remains of the January transfer window, an injection of attacking quality in the shape of the long sought-after striker and replacement for the stricken Izzy Brown.

Otherwise you fear the worst.

Looking at the remaining fixtures, it is hard to see right now where the points are going to come from to reach the 38 or so which will be required.

Especially if the one glaring defensive weakness - against set pieces - is not resolved and they continue to look as blunt away from the Amex as they have since Glenn Murray's winner at Swansea early in November.

It is now one win in 12 and no away goal in six-and-two-thirds matches. That is relegation form.

It is no surprise that Albion lost away to Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea.

This defeat, on the other hand, was as stale as the one last month at Huddersfield, where they also conceded early from a corner.

They have now conceded 17 goals from set plays, the highest number in the division.

The vast majority have been from corners, a shortcoming transparently spotted and exploited by Alan Pardew.

West Brom forced several early corners and scored from one of them after only four minutes.

The Argus: The delivery from Matt Phillips was nodded on by Jay Rodriguez for Jonny Evans, sneaking away from Lewis Dunk, to head into the roof of the net (above).

This fixture had been built up into a must-win for Pardew's side. He appealed for maximum support in the build-up and those dreaded clackers were supplied to help the atmosphere.

Falling behind so early gave the crowd all the encouragement they needed to respond to Pardew's rallying call.

Glenn Murray was fortunate to escape giving away a penalty when he blocked a fierce shot from Phillips with arms raised to protect his face.

Although not further adrift at the break, it took West Brom just ten minutes into the second half to capitalise again on Albion's defensive Achilles heel.

Dawson met Chris Brunt's corner on the run with a powerful downward header (below), soaring above a static Gaetan Bong and defying Anthony Knockaert's attempt at a goal-line clearance.

The Argus: Albion never really looked like ending the away goal drought, at 1-0 or 2-0 down. An off-colour Anthony Knockaert, set up by Murray, side-footed by far their best chance way over the bar midway through the second half.

Their solitary shot on target was from 25 yards by Bruno, struck crisply but straight at Ben Foster.

Supporters complained that Hughton picked the wrong side at Huddersfield. There could be no such protest this time. He selected probably the strongest eleven available to him.

He has problems in both penalty areas at the moment, although the corner goal count can be partly explained by higher quality deliveries, routines, movement and finishing than Albion were accustomed to in the Championship.

Hughton said: "Brunt is probably the best in the country I think at delivering set plays. That is something that we knew.

"The balance is we are up against better specialists who can generally get the ball where they want to get it but they are still set plays.

"We have spent season after season having to defend set plays and the theory of it is no different. So it is hugely disappointing to concede, particularly so early from another set play.

"The other part of it is we have to be better in that final third. Overall I didn't think there was too much between the two teams.

"I thought we got that ball into the final third with crosses and so forth a good percentage of time, particularly for an away game.

"But of course with no end product. We have to be more productive in that final third and particularly away from home we are finding that difficult."

Three of Albion's next five matches are against sides still below them, including the next two away at Southampton and Stoke.

If results do not pick up over this period then the outlook for survival will be grim.