To get the lowdown on Albion’s opponents this afternoon, West Brom, I spoke to Joe Chapman, who covers the Baggies for Birmingham Live:

Do you think they will stay up?

It’s looking unlikely. While it’s still possible they must proceed with a belief that they can get themselves out of it, but they’d be pulling off a minor miracle in doing so.

Sam Allardyce has constantly said he wants 38 points. That means they want 24 from the remaining 14 games.

Irrespective of whether they stay up or go down, for me it’s more the manner in which they attack the run-in. You don’t want to be seen to go down with a whimper, because that can mean something of a hangover for next season when they’d be expected to challenge for promotion.

What did you make of their business in the January transfer window?

Really strong, based on what we’ve seen so far. Albion had a small pool of money to work with, but they did the best they could with it certainly.

They addressed key areas that needed urgent attention. Four new players, three of them loan deals, a handful of a striker and a holding midfielder among them.

It’s just now down to whether they can reverse Albion’s fortunes in the short space of time they’re at the club. They didn’t get Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Okay Yokuslu and Mbaye Diagne in until right at the end of the window - they could’ve done with them arriving on January 2 in truth.

What have fans made of the job Sam Allardyce has done?

Many were big fans of Slaven Bilic, and disagreed with the removal of him as boss, but Albion’s thinking was simple - now we’re back in the Premier League, we’ve got to give it our best shot at staying here. So they went to a man who knows notoriously how to keep teams in the league.

There’s no escaping that under Allardyce, Albion have drifted. They’ve received a number of hammerings, though in recent weeks they’ve shown signs of improvement. It’s just about whether they’re improving quickly enough with time of the essence.

It’s difficult to gauge really how Allardyce would have gone down with the fans had they been in attendance each week - there is an acceptance that the squad itself wasn’t of a good enough quality as a collective.

Who will be the player that Albion will need to keep a close eye on?

Matheus Pereira has been among Albion’s best players this season. He is their top scorer and has been producing assists, too. He might’ve seen off Burnley last weekend but couldn’t find the net, despite a host of shots on goal. He remains Albion’s go to man for a bit of quality in the final third.

Maitland-Niles and Mbaye Diagne have made positive impressions recently.

How will they line-up?

Johnstone; Furlong, O’Shea, Bartley, Townsend; Yokuslu, Gallagher, Maitland-Niles, Phillips, Pereira; Diagne

What will the score be?

I’m going to go for 1-0 to Albion - the West Bromwich variety!

It’ll be tight, I don’t envisage too many goals, and I think that Albion have turned a corner in the last few weeks. This is a must-win game, and I think they’ll do so.