West Brom squandered the chance to go four points clear at the top of the table as they picked up their third defeat of the season on Monday night.

It's now a run of six straight league matches without victory for the Championship leaders, which has allowed Fulham in third place to quickly make up some ground as they now sit just five points behind the Baggies.

Slaven Bilic's defensive woes continued as it was yet another game that they failed to keep a clean sheet at the Hawthorns - something they are yet to do this season, which is astounding given they still sit at the summit.

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Overall, Albion have only kept a clean sheet in 18% of their league outings.

One player that hasn't been part of that defence in recent weeks is Nathan Ferguson as he faces major uncertainty over his future in the west Midlands.

He had been out injured until now as Bilic claimed the 19-year-old would be available for Monday's game, so there was certainly an eyebrow raised when he was completely absent from the matchday squad once again.

Bilic suggested he hadn't fully recovered in time but it is believed the club are willing to sell him this month as he's yet to accept the lucrative contract offered to him, with his current deal set to expire in the summer. The natural assumption is that there's a bit more to it than fitness alone.

As a result of his and Kieran Gibbs' absence, Conor Townsend has played at left-back and as the table below shows, it makes West Brom a much weaker prospect at the back.

The current situation involving Ferguson's future, however, is merely a continuation of a trend that has troubled the Hawthorns for far too long.

Think back to Izzy Brown, Yan Dhanda, Jerome Sinclair and more recently the likes of Morgan Rogers and Louie Barry - Albion lose their best youngsters and the same is going to happen to the England U21 international soon.

It is the failure to lock these emerging talents down long-term that results in them being able to leave with relative ease.

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And that frequent occurrence continuing on lies in big part with technical and sporting director Luke Dowling - it's clear he hasn't changed the attitude at the club since he took the helm in 2018, and he hasn't done enough to keep Ferguson at the Hawthorns.

The Baggies are only shooting themselves in the foot here.

Ferguson's statistics, via WhoScored, show he averages more tackles (2.4), clearances (1.7), dribbles (1.5) and passes (46.1) per game than Townsend, proving that they are stronger with him than without him.

His likely departure is only going to wreak havoc as West Brom approach the business end of the campaign - a time when clean sheets become even more crucial - when really the club should have already tied him down to a long-term deal.

Dowling must ensure this doesn't happen to the next cohort of prospects coming through - the likes of Jamie Soule, Jovan Malcolm, and Rico Richards - but in the case of Ferguson, it already feels like too little too late.

The Baggies are already paying the price at the back for his absence, and recent events suggests that will be a permanence going forward.

While in other news, West Brom fans left with egg on their face after this disaster showing...