Paul Merson: West Brom are relegated if they fail to beat Newcastle
Paul Merson is blowing the candles out on any chances of West Brom staging a late bid for Premier League survival.
The ex-Aston Villa midfielder is adamant that Albion do not stand a chance of avoiding an instant drop back to the Championship, despite a promising three-match unbeaten run before defeat against Everton on Thursday.
Speaking on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday [06/03/21] Merson reserved praise for January recruit Mbaye Diagne but ruled out him inspiring Sam Allardyce’s side to safety.
He said: “They’re giving teams a game now, they’re making it hard.
“This lad’s [Diagne] a good player I like him, when West Brom get relegated and I’m sure they will, I think he gets a club I really do.
“I like what West Brom are doing, they’re making it tight but they’ve got to turn that into wins now and I think this is a must, must-win now [v Newcastle United] or it’s floodlights out.”
Misery Merse, there’s room for optimism
It’s good to hear Merson has faith in our new number 17 but he ought to be a bit more upbeat on our chances.
He hinted there could be a slim chance if we beat Newcastle but he prefaced that with a defiant message that we are going down.
We’re not suggesting that we’re suddenly the best team in the division but we have certainly turned a corner recently and there is more than a glimmer of hope now.
Agreed, we need to beat Newcastle on Sunday but if we do the gap is closed to six points and the Magpies are in the midst of an injury crisis with their star trio of Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron all on the treatment table and absent for the foreseeable future.
They will be scraping the barrel for points so we think Fulham are actually the biggest competitors to Premier League survival now and they face a tough run of fixtures against Liverpool, Manchester City, Leeds United and Aston Villa.
Meanwhile we play Newcastle and Crystal Palace next with maximum points easily achievable against two out-of-sorts sides.
Albion are peaking at the right time and could be the dark horses in this race.
In other West Brom news, Steve Bruce issues strong response to Big Sam PL complaint.
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