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JONATHAN Greening believes Albion's tried and tested methods will give them a great chance of Premier League survival.

The Baggies kick-off their top flight campaign at the Emirates on Saturday.

Tony Mowbray's side earned themselves a reputation for free-flowing football and were noted for their excellent team spirit last season, mainly thanks to the previous summer's cull.

Greening feels those traits will be imperative again.

WEST Bromwich Albion's chance of staying in the Premier League this season can be roughly judged at 50-50 on the basis that only 23 of the 47 teams promoted to the division have survived to see a second year.

At that stage, five more have fallen back into the clutches of the Coca-Cola Championship.

Reveal such basic research to Tony Mowbray and it is met with an exasperated, almost disdainful snigger, followed shortly by a rub of his furrowed brow.

However, it is because of numbers like these that Albion are once more among the 'experts' and bookies' favourites to be relegated - along with Stoke City and Hull City - which was news to the Baggies' manager, especially as no one has seen his side play.

PORTUGESE defender Tininho has been released by West Bromwich Albion.

The left-back joined Albion from Beira Mar last summer in a £230,000 deal but made only one appearance for the club in their opening Coca-Cola Championship clash against Barnsley last season.

The 27-year-old later joined the Tykes on loan, and following his return home is expected to join Portuguese side Leixoes.

WEST Bromwich Albion received some welcome news yesterday when defender Abdoulaye Meite signed for £2million.

The deal for the 27-year-old had earlier this week been described as "dead in the water" by manager Tony Mowbray but after his side's final pre-season run out against Real Mallorca he intimated the transfer was on the brink of being resurrected.

He also admitted the transfer window has been a frustrating time and could not resist having a swipe at the "outsiders" who, he says, have made his life more complicated than it should have been this summer.

If it were possible for football agents to have gone down in Mowbray's estimations, they have come close in the past couple of months.

BAGGIES old boy Daryl Burgess has reassured Albion that the experienced head of former team-mate Neil Clement will help them thwart the Premier League's predators.

The strength of Tony Mowbray's backline has been a cause of much concern at The Hawthorns with the boss searching all summer for rearguard reinforcements.

But Burgess, who played alongside Clement during the early days of the Gary Megson era in 2000, believes the former Chelsea defender still has a big part to play.

It seemed like the days of Albion's longest servant were numbered when he was sent on loan to Hull City last season after recovering from a long-term knee problem.

Clement has reinvented himself, however, and towards the end of last term returned to The Hawthorns to play an influential role in his third promotion with West Brom.

And Burgess believes Clement's experience could be invaluable for Albion as the Championship title winners try to contain the top flight's unforgiving forwards.