West Brom boss Sam Allardyce admits the Baggies need a “miracle and fairy dust” to stay up after a 1-1 derby draw with Wolves.
Mbaye Diagne cancelled out Fabio Silva’s first-half fluke but Albion failed to get the win they needed to give themselves a realistic survival shot in the Premier League.
The second-bottom Baggies are 10 points from safety with four games left and could be down before they play again at Arsenal on Sunday.
Allardyce said: “We owe it to everyone to keep a professional attitude and go out and try to win every game we’ve got left and hope every team above us loses every game and then, by some magic miracle and some fairy dust, we stay up.
“I can’t believe we haven’t won or taken the chances we created. It wasn’t a great performance in the first half an hour but having made the change of the system we got better.
“We had two magnificent chances in the second half and missed them both. I’m very sad for the players they haven’t converted this game into a victory.
“You look at Wolves’ goal and say ‘why can’t we get a bit of luck like that?’ It was horrendous conditions but we mastered it better in the second half.”
Allardyce also confirmed he had started to speak to the club about his future.
“We have already touched on it, not an awful lot but as time ticks down we’ll do a little bit more and a bit more,” he added.
Nelson Semedo tested Sam Johnstone before Silva’s fortunate opener in first-half injury time.
Vitinha slipped in Semedo and he stabbed towards Silva who, before he could shoot, saw Kyle Bartley clear the ball against his standing foot for it to loop in over Johnstone.
It was the striker’s fourth goal of the season and second against the Baggies.
Albion rallied after the break and Conor Townsend and Conor Gallagher tested Rui Patricio before Diagne levelled after 62 minutes, heading in Townsend’s cross from close range.
Johnstone did turn Silva’s low drive wide and Gallagher shot wide late on as mid-table Wolves’ season continues to wind down.
Boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “It was a very physical game and the boys did what they should do, they fought, won duels and they were there.
“We should improve on certain aspects, defensively at the beginning of the second half we had issues. We had chances to do much better in the final third.
“We have to look ahead and improve. This is where we work, we improved on the previous game and we have to improve on the next one.
“It requires attitude and the boys did it, they fought against a really tough opponent.”
Nuno also confirmed Willy Boly missed out as he struggles to shake off Covid-19 having tested positive for the virus at the start of the month.
He added: “He was infected and this week was not able to train, his heartrate increases and we have to look. He is doing exams to see if there are any other issues. I hope not.”
