Sofiane Boufal's beautiful winner for Southampton has West Brom boss Tony Pulis fearing the drop
- West Brom suffered defeat at Southampton courtesy of Sofiane Boufal's stunner
- Tony Pulis set the Baggies up not to lose rather than win and was punished
- With a tough run of games to come, his position could come under scrutiny
- 'It looks as if it is going to be as tough a Premier League as we've had for years'
- Read more: Boufal hopes the 'best is still to come' after netting superb winner
Against a goal-shy Southampton side that had only won one of their last 10 league games at St Mary's Stadium, Tony Pulis missed a trick.
West Brom played as if they wanted to try to avoid being beaten rather than register a win. It backfired and the Baggies have now won just twice in their last 18 Premier League games.
Sacking season is well underway, with Slaven Bilic and Ronald Koeman among those whose backs are against the wall, and Pulis is at risk of joining the list of managers in peril.
West Brom boss Tony Pulis missed a trick as his side suffered a 1-0 defeat by Southampton
The Baggies were guilty of lacking ambition at St Mary's and now face a tough run of fixtures
Three of their next four fixtures are against Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham. The odd one out is away at Huddersfield, who are fresh from beating Manchester United.
Those two wins in 18 could become two in 22 by the time Newcastle visit on November 28. This is relegation form for West Brom.
'If you take the top six out, the difference between the bottom and the rest, it looks as if it is going to be as tough a Premier League as we've had for years,' Pulis admitted.
'Sometimes you get something where you're not expecting it. I've been at this football club and gone to Manchester United and won there, so we will take every game as it comes.'
Sofiane Boufal, a £16million signing from Ligue 1 side Lille, has a habit of scoring screamers
As for Southampton, they left it late but their supporters and manager Mauricio Pellegrino felt this win was deserved after their positive play.
It took a late winner from Sofiane Boufal — their £16million signing from Lille in the summer of 2016 who has a habit of scoring screamers.
This time, Boufal sprinted 70 yards and beat five West Brom players to score in the 85th minute — but his celebration was criticised.
The 24-year-old substitute, who had only been on the field for four minutes, ran to Pellegrino and screamed at his manager in apparent protest at his lack of starts.
Pellegrino simply said it was 'beautiful' afterwards and Boufal's team-mate Dusan Tadic added: 'It was an amazing goal.
'Sometimes it is like that. You score a goal like that and not from clear chances but what is most important is that we took the three points.'
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