Fiery derby awaits Allardyce on Premier League return
New West Bromwich Albion manager Sam Allardyce will have a baptism by fire in his first game in charge after 19 months when they host Aston Villa in the West Midlands derby at The Hawthorns on Sunday. Allardyce, the first managerial change at a Premier League club this season, has the testing task of keeping […]
Sam Allardyce
New West Bromwich Albion manager Sam Allardyce will have a baptism by fire in his first game in charge after 19 months when they host Aston Villa in the West Midlands derby at The Hawthorns on Sunday.
Allardyce, the first managerial change at a Premier League club this season, has the testing task of keeping intact his record of never being relegated from the Premier League, with West Brom second-bottom in the table.
With more than 500 top-flight games across seven clubs on his CV, Allardyce is a master of survival and has a proven record of pulling struggling teams out of a hole, but West Brom may be his biggest challenge yet.
With one win in 13, West Brom look bereft of confidence and take on a Villa side that last beat them on penalties in the Championship playoffs en route to promotion to the top flight in 2019.
Manchester United and Leeds United will also rekindle an age-old rivalry on Sunday at Old Trafford, where Leeds have not won a league game since 1981, although hostilities in the stands will be absent due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The players who take to the pitch may have a limited grasp of the heated rivalry that intensified during the days of former United boss Matt Busby and his Leeds counterpart Don Revie in the 1960s and the hooliganism that followed.
The fixture could, however, still produce some fireworks.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United side will be desperate to put on a show having suffered at home, winning only once in six games, while Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds have had more success on the road.
Leeds are one of the fittest teams in the league and Solskjaer will be wary of their pedal-to-the-metal style, on show in their 5-2 hammering of Newcastle United on Wednesday.