SAINTS will be protecting a proud home record against West Bromwich Albion this afternoon.

The Baggies have only ever won three times in 32 league visits to The Dell and St Mary’s.

The first one of those was a 1-0 win in February 1947, followed by a 2-0 Dell success in August 1969.

West Brom’s only victory at St Mary’s was a controversial occasion in April 2014.

The visitors won 3-0 with Saints ending with nine man following a flurry of second half dismissals.

Trailing Saints were already trailing 2-0 when rookie ref Robert Madley – taking charge of his first ever Premier League game – sent off Saints sub Gaston Ramirez and Baggies striker Marc-Antoine Fortune in the 70th minute.

Ramirez appeared to elbow his current Saints colleague Shane Long in the face as the pair chased after the ball.

The resulting fracas saw Fortune push his hand into Ramirez’s face and Madley gave both players their marching orders.

The drama was not finished there, however, as first Romelu Lukaku put Long through to seal the win. Then Madley brandished his third red card to Saints defender Danny Fox when the full back recklessly launched into a challenge.

They were the only two red cards Saints were shown in the entire 2012/13 league season.