Allardyce: Everton playing themselves back into relegation

Matt Stead

Sam Allardyce has conceded his honeymoon period in charge of Everton is over and fears the club could be sucked into a relegation dogfight.

Allardyce was unbeaten in his opening seven fixtures after he was handed the Goodison Park reigns following Ronald Koeman’s dismissal.

But following their 4-0 drubbing by Tottenham on Saturday, the former England manager has overseen four consecutive defeats, with his side out of the FA Cup and once more looking over their shoulder in the Premier League.

Everton host West Brom next Saturday, and Allardyce insists it is a must-win fixture for his out-of-sorts team.

“The honeymoon period is over and the players have got to get back to listening to what we need to do to make sure we don’t get drawn back into the relegation zone,” Allardyce said.

“That is exactly what we are doing at the moment. We have faced facts that we can’t hide behind the wonderful run we had without being defeated.

“We have got to realise that we are threatening ourselves with a relegation fight again. That is a fact. We need to make sure we adjust and put that right as quickly as we can by putting points on the board.

“Next week’s game is massive for us now, as to whether we are going to start slipping into the relegation zone or decide we don’t want to be there and put three points on the board against West Brom.”