Southampton v West Brom: Big call for Mason between sticks, but which way does he go?

When the head coach was asked in his post-QPR press conference if he has thinking to do about his goalkeeper selection at St Mary's Mason replied with one word.

"No."

That can be taken in a couple of ways.

It either means Mason is willing to give Joe Wildsmith another opportunity to prove himself as an Albion goalkeeper after his somewhat surprising introduction in place of Josh Griffiths in west London on Saturday.

Or it could mean the head coach saw enough of Wildsmith in the 90 minutes at Loftus Road that he will return to No.1 Griffiths.

The former feels more likely.

It was a big call to give the experienced Wildsmith, 29, an opportunity.

He played 10 league games in a row between February and April last season under Tony Mowbray, who was determined to give the former Sheffield Wednesday and Derby shot-stopper enough opportunity.

There were several high-profile and costly errors and, eventually, Wildsmith was dropped for Griffiths. The saga, in part, cost Mowbray.

Griffiths, 24, was always going to emerge as Albion first-choice this season and has, by and large, made a good fist of his maiden campaign as Baggies No.1.

He has not been free of errors, far from it. The poor effort to ship a second to Swansea recently thankfully did not cost his side, but there was the big error at Ipswich late on and Griffiths got a hand to Andi Weimann's late Hawthorns winner for Derby back in September.

However, Herefordshire-born Griffiths has often come up trumps with fine saves. He generally excels one-v-one and has made a good number of big stops. He single-handedly secured the points last time his side won on the road, at Norwich on October 1, prior to six straight away defeats.

Mason is clearly looking for fewer errors from his No.1 goalkeeper and has given Griffiths a break from the "intensity" of regular Championship football to improve and come back stronger.

The issue lies with Wildsmith's capability. He struggled badly last season and on the basis of Saturday at QPR has not improved. The back-up, who has spent a lot of his career as a No.2, allowed Derby's late EFL Cup equaliser loop over his head in August before the penalty shootout defeat.

He was partly to blame for QPR's third and another error, jointly with Chris Mepham, should have cost Albion another goal.

Mason will have been aware of Wildsmith's form last term but still went with the call. Whether he does again in Hampshire on Tuesday will be telling.

Southampton, under new boss Tonda Eckert, are in good form and will attack. Wildsmith will be under pressure to stand up to any barrage. He so far has two clean sheets in 11 league games for the Baggies.

Dismissing Wildsmith for St Mary's and reverting to Griffiths - which most fans would desire - would be a confidence killer for the former.

Elsewhere the Baggies have centre-back Nat Phillips back from suspension. Krystian Bielik gave a solid enough account of himself at QPR when handed a rare opportunity and was one of few to leave with any morsel of credit.

Whether Phillips makes an immediate return against 11th-placed Saints - or even displaces the struggling Mepham - is another interesting call.