Preview: Southampton vs West Brom

Following a spirited loss to away at Liverpool, Southampton will be looking to kick-start their season like they did last year with a win over West Brom.

Traditionally a bit of a bogey side for Saints, Mauricio Pochettino's men managed to do the double over the Baggies last season - and new boss Ronald Koeman will be looking to carry on that trend.

Saints' 2013/14 opener saw Rickie Lambert score a late penalty to take the opening-day spoils. However, you may remember Artur Boruc did brilliantly to save an even later Billy Jones effort to preserve our slender 1-0 lead.

Boruc's future on the south coast looks bleak after his supposed negative reaction to being displaced by new 'keeper Fraser Forster. A lot of Saints fans, myself included, love Artur - but, his conduct has been questionable since Forster's arrival, posting suggestive tweets and instagram messages which could be seen as him voicing his displeasure about his present situation within the team.

Last night, Koeman told the press that Boruc has voiced his desire to leave the team if he is to play second fiddle to Forster. This most likely means we won't be seeing the Polish stopper in a Saints net any time soon. Koeman said:

Boruc is training like he did before. I spoke with him and he said he would like to move, that's normal for his position, and until the transfer deadline he is not in the team. If he stays after then, it's a new situation and we think about it. When he moves it will be best for Artur and best for club.

I'm not frustrated because I think it's a normal situation of what he thinks of himself and that he wants to be in the Polish national team. To be part of that has to play and that's normal, I can understand that because I like players who do everything to play, but difficult here because we made situation here clear.

Along with Forster, Koeman gave debuts to many players last week at Anfield: including the impressive pairing of Ryan Bertrand and Dušan Tadić - the latter having particularly impressed fans and pundits alike on his Premier League bow.

One new Saints signing who couldn't make the trip to Merseyside was Romanian centre-back Florin Gardos. He reportedly picked up a niggling injury at Steaua Bucharest before joining up with Southampton. Koeman cautiously suggested the new defensive recruit could make his debut tomorrow:

Florin Gardos is training but we have to make a decision tomorrow if he can play or not. He had a hamstring injury 4-5 weeks ago, so it's difficult to make a decision. The rest of the boys are in good condition. It's a maybe for Saturday on Gardos.

Other than that, it appears tomorrow's Saints squad will look similar to last week's. Gaston Ramirez is still out injured and hasn't been able to train. However, we could see the debut of loan signing Saphir Taider, after having an impressive showing in the U21's game vs Fulham.

Last weekend saw West Brom held to a 2-2 draw with Sunderland at The Hawthorns. From what I've read, WBA were unfortunate to only get a point last week so we could be in for a real test. Baggies boss Alan Irvine will certainly be hoping so.