West Bromwich Albion's disastrous start to life in the Premier League continued as they were well-beaten by Southampton at the St Mary's Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

It's just one point from their opening four matches, meaning Slaven Bilic's side are toying with the prospect of being early favourites for relegation and an instant return to the Championship.

Going by reports in the press, the Croatian feels that he needs a new striker in the form of Karlan Grant, who they have been pursuing for several months now but he's hardly going to be the answer to all of the Baggies' woes.

The Midlands outfit have leaked a whopping 13 goals already - that's currently the most in the Premier League. Their backline does not look fit for a top-flight campaign whatsoever.

And one name displayed that during the Saints defeat.

Kyle Bartley was particularly poor with Bilic keeping the faith in the 29-year-old despite swapping a back three for Albion's old 4-2-3-1 system.

Per SofaScore, the Englishman managed to lose 84% of his six duels whilst also losing possession 12 times, committing two fouls and recording a wasteful passing accuracy of 63%.

It's no wonder the Saints peppered Sam Johnstone with 13 shots, eight of which coming from inside the box, which suggests Bartley wasn't doing his job.

Grant may well come in and score goals but having the likes of Bartley and Semi Ajayi as your centre-backs all season could prove very costly.

When you're letting in an average of over three goals per game, questions have to be asked defensively - splashing around £18m on Grant is risky business as it leaves the Baggies' bank empty for any further reinforcements at the back.

That could well be the deciding factor come to the end of the season for Albion.

AND in other news, West Brom have dodged a bullet with one mooted transfer target...