Sam Allardyce has spearheaded a number of unlikely, late-season escape acts in the Premier League down the years.
Leading West Bromwich Albion to safety this season would be his biggest triumph yet. It’s improbable but certainly not out of the question after the team's second big win in little over a week, 3-0 over Southampton on Monday.
Make that eight goals in two games for next-to-last West Brom, which was coming off a scarcely believable 5-2 victory at Chelsea at the start of April. It's a huge turnaround for a side which, until this recent flurry of goals, was the lowest scorer in the league with just 20 from its first 29 games.
From appearing virtually certain of going down, West Brom suddenly has a fighting chance of staying up given the gap to Newcastle, which occupies the spot above the bottom three, is eight points with seven games remaining.
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“It’s not a big chance,” said the 66-year-old Allardyce, who has never been relegated from England's top division in a managerial career spanning three decades. “Just a hope that we keep winning and the other teams lose. That’s all we can do.”
The fixture schedule certainly isn't on the side of the man known as “Big Sam,” with games still to come against Leicester, Liverpool and West Ham — teams fighting for Champions League qualification — as well as trips to Arsenal and Leeds.
No team will be scrapping harder than West Brom, though.
‘Non-performance’
Certainly Southampton, whose players possibly had one eye on Sunday's FA Cup semifinal against Leicester at Wembley Stadium, couldn't cope with Allardyce's team. Matheus Pereira, from the penalty spot, and Matt Phillips scored in a four-minute span from the 32nd and Callum Robinson added a third in the 69th.
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl called it a “non-performance” from his players.
“If we play like this, we have no chance on Sunday,” he said. “When the first duel was lost, you could see we weren’t sharp enough to compete with a team like West Brom.”
Brighton 0-0 Everton
Everton failed to keep the pressure on local rival Liverpool in the race for European qualification, letting two points slip in a lackluster 0-0 draw at Brighton on Monday.
Without top scorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin because of a hamstring injury, Everton managed just one shot on target — that coming in the 71st minute — at Amex Stadium. A late chance fell to substitute Alex Iwobi, who blazed over when free just inside the area. The result left Everton on a four-game winless run and in eighth place, four points behind sixth-place Liverpool and seven behind West Ham in fourth.
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In the battle to avoid relegation, Brighton climbed above Burnley into 15th place and is now seven points clear of third-to-last Fulham. The south-coast team has 33 points from 31 games for the third straight season.
Everton has been impressive on the road this season, with 29 points from its 14 away fixtures and its previous 10 away league matches featuring seven wins and only one loss. But the Toffees struggled to impose themselves against a Brighton team which kept possession well, with centre midfielder Yves Bissouma the most accomplished player on the field.
Brighton lacked a cutting edge, though, with Leandro Trossard having a shot deflected just wide and Bissouma's ambitious overhead kick looping onto the roof of the net.
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