Southampton have survived a late barrage from West Bromwich Albion to secure a 1-0 win in Saturday's Premier League clash at the Hawthorns.
West Brom came close to opening the scoring 20 minutes in as Nacer Chadli fired over from 18 yards after Fraser Forster had parried away James Morrison's long-range effort.
However, Saints broke the deadlock five minutes later through Jordy Clasie, who connected with Dusan Tadic's pass on the edge of the area with the outside of his boot and sent a ferocious shot into the top corner of the Baggies net.
Claude Puel's side then came close to doubling their lead after the break when the impressive Tadic curled an ambitious effort narrowly wide of Ben Foster's goal.
Tony Pulis's charges upped the pressure in a bid to claim an equaliser, but they failed to get the ball past an inspired Forster, who palmed away a Salomon Rondon header in the first half and then denied Craig Dawson and Jonny Evans deep into injury time
The result means that West Brom, who fail to score for the fifth time in their last six games, remain eighth on 44 points from 32 games, while Southampton have been boosted in their hopes of a top-half finish as they sit ninth on 40 points from 30 games.
Giuseppe Labellarte
