On Sunday afternoon, West Brom drew 2-2 at Midlands neighbours Aston Villa, in a game that brought injury-time heartbreak for the Baggies.
Sam Allardyce’s team were leading 2-1 until an injury-time strike from Villa youngster Keinan Davis earned the Villans a point.
In truth, the late equaliser will have been a massive blow to West Bromwich, who had given themselves some hope of beating the drop in recent weeks by picking up some decent results. However, as it stands the Baggies are nine points from safety with just five league games remaining.
Survival was always going to be difficult for the team from the Midlands, as they started the campaign in such a terrible manner.
They have spent most of the season in the Premier League’s bottom three. Until recent months, they showed very little signs of getting out of trouble.
However, some good results and improved performances gave them a slight hope of avoiding a return to the Championship for next season. That hope is getting lesser by the week, with games now running out for the Baggies to save themselves.
Head coach Sam Allardyce is of course regarded as somebody a club brings in when they are in trouble at the bottom of the table. More often than not he prevents the club from suffering relegation. The former England boss has never suffered relegation from the English top-flight.
However, it seems the experienced boss will suffer a first in the next couple of weeks. The signs from recent weeks suggest that if he would have had more time at the helm that his team would not be facing the drop.
If he would have arrived at the start of the campaign, then maybe West Brom wouldn’t have suffered relegation. It would have been harsh to dispense with the services of Slaven Bilic at the start of the campaign, though, after he got the Baggies promoted.
If Allardyce stays at the club and rebuilds his team, then there is no doubt that West Brom can bounce straight back up next season.