West Brom continued their recent improvement in form with a thumping 3-0 win over Middlesbrough to heap more pressure on manager Gareth Southgate.

It was a disappointing result for Middlesbrough who are now with no wins in their last 10 matches and find themselves out of the relegation zone thanks to their better goal difference. It was a cautious beginning to the match with both the teams feeling each other out in a game that was billed as a six-pointer before kick off.

West Brom took the lead in the 4th minute with their first shot on goal as Chris Brunt latched on to a poor defensive header by Tony McMahon and made no mistake from close range to put his side in front.

Afonso Alves had a couple of excellent chances to put Boro back on level terms but the closest he came was a minute after West Brom had taken the lead when his header smashed against the bar. At the other end Jay Simpson should have had doubled the lead for West Brom but Ross Turnbull pulled off a brilliant save to deny the full back.

Boro were struggling to finish off their chances and were made to pay in the 54th minute when Robert Koren saw his shot take a big deflection off Marc-Antoine Fortune and past Turnbull to double West Brom's lead.

Boro were reduced to 10 men when Didier Digard was sent off for a foul on Valero and Koren wrapped up the points with his second goal in the 67th minute.