West Brom keep 'great escape' dream alive by thrashing Southampton after overcoming bizarre Var decision

• Diagne onside but Var said it was unable to intervene

• Pereira eventually puts Albion ahead

• Sam Allardyce's side eight points from safety with seven games left

West Bromwich Albion’s great escape of 2005 will always be remembered as the Premier League’s most unlikely rescue act.

If Sam Allardyce somehow succeeds in guiding the club to survival this season, it would undoubtedly top even Bryan Robson’s achievement from 16 years ago.

West Brom remain eight points adrift of safety but have secured two successive victories to keep their slim hopes of avoiding relegation faintly flickering.

Albion overcame a frankly inexplicable Var decision early in the contest to brush aside an abysmal Southampton, who have now lost 10 of their last 13 league games under Ralph Hasenhüttl.

Allardyce has never been relegated from this division as a manager and time is against him, but they are finally displaying appetite for the fight, refusing to go down with a whimper.

In 2005 they stayed up under Robson on the final day, despite being bottom at Christmas, and this situation is even more severe for the league’s master escapologist.

The dream is still alive, but only just. “Unfortunately for us we have to rely on other teams losing and all we can do is win the next game and keep our fingers crossed,” said Allardyce.

“It’s two great wins in a row that will prick up people’s ears about how well we’re playing. There was pressure on us after Newcastle won but we’ve got the gap down to eight points.

“We’ve slipped up in front of goal too much and if our finishing was better I think we’d be sitting on the 30-point mark. We’re still fighting and I hope it gives the players belief.

“We wanted to play Aston Villa this weekend as neither of us had a game but we’ve not been allowed to for some unearthly reason.”

West Brom must wish they had dispensed with Slaven Bilic sooner, despite the controversy which surrounded the decision.

There has been a steady improvement under Allardyce, including the 5-2 thrashing of Chelsea the previous weekend, but games are running out and their revival may still come too late.

He could do with facing more willing opponents like Southampton, who were woeful less than a week before the FA Cup semi-final against Leicester at Wembley.

West Brom dominated from the start and should have been ahead early but for another farce involving Var.

Mbaye Diagne was clearly onside in the fourth minute when he flicked in Darnell Furlong’s half-volley from a few yards out, but the goal was disallowed for an alleged offside.

Professional Game Match Officials Ltd later insisted that the Var, Kevin Friend, could not get an angle that conclusively showed whether Diagne's upper body was onside or offside, so they stuck with the on-field decision. It was another bewildering moment for the Premier League.

“Var has failed us massively,” said Allardyce. “They came to the wrong decision and they got it wrong, because of human error.

“I’m afraid it’s now a laughing stock. All stakeholders should have an influential input into how Var goes forward.

“We need to come together on this and get a better balance. I’m glad to say it didn’t have a detrimental effect.”

Albion’s first goal, in the 32nd minute, came from Matheus Pereira’s penalty, after he was brought down in the area by Fraser Forster.

The hosts extended their lead 179 seconds later after another outstanding move, with Matt Phillips converting Diagne’s cross at the far post.

Albion added a third goal 21 minutes from time, with Callum Robinson beating Forster with a clinical finish.

Southampton were slightly better in the second-half, but their miserable evening was summed up when the usually reliable James Ward-Prowse had a penalty saved by Sam Johnstone in added time, after substitute Moussa Djenepo was fouled by Conor Townsend.

Hasenhüttl must now pick up his players for their Wembley semi-final. “It was a non-performance and this was not what I wanted to see,” he said.

“We are all responsible for performances like this and we have shown that we can do much better.

“We have to be very critical with this game as it was far away from what we can normally offer. We have to show a different face at Wembley on Sunday - if we play like this we’ll have no chance.”

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07:00 PM

Back to back wins for West Brom

For the first time this season. They're eight points off 17th, which is enormous at this stage of the season but they played very well and it does look as if everything has finally clicked. It will probably be too much, too little, too late but there are encouraging signs all round.

Southampton were absolute garbage. Shockingly bad.

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06:57 PM

Full time WBA 3 Saints 0

Peep, peep, peeeeep! Ainsley Maitland-Niles is named man of the match.

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06:56 PM

90+4 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Ward-Prowse attempts to make amends with a 22-yard free kick but fizzes it over the bar.

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06:55 PM

Saved!

Ward-Prowse's pen, whipped to the left was saved by Johnstone with a firm hand.

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06:54 PM

Southampton penalty

Townsend slips and then kicks Djenepo who had got ahead of him seconds after Ajayi brought down Armstrong.

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06:52 PM

90+1 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Six minutes of injury time are signalled after Maitland-Niles' lengthy treatment.

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06:51 PM

90 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Vestergaard heads over from a JW-P corner. Hasenhuttl, who looked livid in the first half, is now merely exasperated.

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06:48 PM

87 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Double Southampton substitution: Djenepo for Walker-Peters and Tella for Ings.

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06:46 PM

85 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Maitland-Niles jogs back on and West Brom send on Ajayi for Bartley instead. The captain must have twanged his groin in that lunge at Adams.

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06:44 PM

83 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Maitland-Miles is sitting up now, which is good to see. And back on his feet. Off he goes for a concussion check. He is indicating that he cricked his neck rather than banged his head.

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06:42 PM

81 min WBA 3 Saints 0

The stretcher has come on for Maitland-Niles who has been terrific.

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06:41 PM

79 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Adams drills a right-foot shot after a good run up the right wide of the far post. West Brom had three players on the ground at the time - Maitland-Niles after a collision with Walker-Peters and a heavy landing, Bartley in a slide tackle and Pereira claiming a foul from Ings which didn't happen.

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06:36 PM

77 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Second West Brom substitution: Robson-Kanu replaces Diagne.

Saints send on Adams for Walcott.

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06:36 PM

75 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Redmond catches a 30-yard shot very sweetly but it's a good couple of feet over the bar and far too straight in any case.

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06:33 PM

73 min WBA 3 Saints 0

West Brom sub: Robinson off, Gallagher on.

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06:32 PM

71 min WBA 3 Saints 0

Conor Gallagher has been waiting to come on for Robinson for five minutes! That was the proverbial hot knife through butter from Yokuslu up the middle. Vestergaard was out of position and didn't have the pace to live with Robinson who ran on to the pass intended for Diagne as it bent down the inside-left and buried his shot.

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06:29 PM

GOOOOOOOAL!!

West Brom 3 Southampton 0 (Robinson)

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06:29 PM

Keith Hackett on the VAR decision

Technology is there to help the officials, but on this occasion it’s got the decision completely wrong. It’s another case of the offside lines making the situation worse, when clearly common sense should prevail.

PGMOL have said that the VAR couldn't get an angle that conclusively showed whether Mbaye Diagne's upper body was onside or offside, so they have stuck with the on-field decision of the assistant referee to flag for offside.

It’s a perfectly legitimate goal, he’s not offside and it should have been allowed. Anybody who is looking at the camera footage without the lines and without the technology should be able to make a judgment call. The VAR watching in Stockley Park should be able to make that judgement on what he sees in front of him. That’s why I’m totally against the use of the offside lines.

What we’re seeing is that we’ve got to be able to referee the game without technology and when the technology fails we’ve got to be able to make a judgement call, and that judgement call should be clearly that Diagne is onside. To rule out a goal incorrectly is terrible and it also shows that there’s a clear fundamental fault line in the technology that’s being used that underpins the concerns that I have about it.

If this was goal-line technology, there would be seven cameras around the goal to cover that exact situation - if a player is in the way, they’ve other cameras that they can default to. Yet they only used the one angle - why didn’t they look at another angle that could prove Diagne was onside?

Confusion exists because of it. The assistant referee doesn’t flag in certain situations, and in this one he did and they’ve got it wrong in what is an important game in the relegation fight for West Brom.

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06:27 PM

67 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Yokuslu takes, a right-foot curler, and skims the top of the net after it whistled over the bar

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06:26 PM

65 min WBA 2 Saints 0

West Brom have been kettled in their own half for the past 10 minutes but their defending has been confident. No sign of panic yet.

Pereira, when West Brom do break, is pulled back by Diallo, 25 yards out and the referee gives it a second to see if there's an advantage then awards the free-kick.

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06:24 PM

63 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Redmond wants a penalty when he hits the deck as he ran through the D into the box, on the very brink of losing control of the ball as he cut back inside. The referee and VAR think not. There was a tiny bit of contact as he sent Bartley the other way but he sprang back to his feet and got on with it before Stockley Park had confirmed it wasn't a foul.

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06:21 PM

61 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Ward-Prowse-s free-kick is cleared but Yokuslu misplaces a pass and shanks it to Ings who feeds it down the inside-left from the middle for Armstrong but he is thwarted by Furlong's excellent sliding tackle.

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06:19 PM

59 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Yokuslu is penalised for a trip on Ings, 28 yards out, parallel with the left right-angle of the box.

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06:18 PM

58 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Armstrong has switched to the left and has a run at O'Shea who watches his feet and manages to toe the ball behind for a corner as Armstrong was mid-dribble. Bartley heads Ward-Prowse's corner upfield.

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06:16 PM

56 min WBA 2 Saints 0

West Brom free-kick after a Walker-Peters foul on Townsend down by the left corner flag in the home side's half.

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06:15 PM

54 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Southampton enjoying far more possession but held quite high up the pitch so far. Hasenhuttl is bellowing at his players. It's as if West Brom have flicked the counter-attacking switch and are going to sit back, confident in the recent solidity of their defence.

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06:13 PM

52 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Walker-Peters run down the right and bouncing cross through the six-yard box deserves better than West Brom shepherding it out for a goalkick. It needed Ings or Walcott to commit to a back-post run much earlier.

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06:11 PM

50 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Ward-Prowse whips it in with customary menace from the left with his right, aiming for Bednarek but Bartley reads the flight and attacks it with such force that he wins a fine aerial duel.

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06:09 PM

48 min WBA 2 Saints 0

West Brom press Southampton so vigorously that they force them all the way back to Forster who works it back up front quickly to earn a corner.

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06:07 PM

46 min WBA 2 Saints 0

West Brom kick-off. No sign as yet of the impact of fleas inserted into Southampton ears by an irate manager.

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05:58 PM

Jamie Carragher on the 'offside'

He's onside, I have no doubt. My problem is that no one 'knows' because they can't draw a line to his shoulder. But there is more evidence that he is onside than he is offside so it's a goal.

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05:57 PM

Kevin Campbell on MNF on the VAR call

I've had enough of VAR and the way it's been officiated. That was a perfectly good goal. The fact they've scored two goals has got VAR out of jail. It's a disgrace.

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05:54 PM

Half-time WBA 2 Saints 0

West Brom utterly dominant and they may have done enough to lessen the impact and controversy of the VAR fiasco that denied Diagne an opening goal. But they were not dispirited and continued to turn the screw until Southampton, who have been milky beyond belief, cracked.

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05:50 PM

45+2 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Ings is caught on the ankle again, accidentally, when going up for a header.

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05:49 PM

45 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Yokuslu catches Ings on the ankle between the Southampton box and halfway. Hasenhuttl looks as if he's going to breathe fire in his players' ears. One fears for the tactics board and the tea urn.

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05:47 PM

43 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Excellent footwork from Maitland-Niles once more to win the ball and shift it forward when under so much pressure he was awarded a free-kick for a foul. Ralph Hasenuttl is fuming but it could be worse, they should be 3-0 down. Southampton, apart from about four minutes, have been dreadful.

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05:44 PM

42 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Yokuslu has a dig from too far out for him and slices it over the bar.

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05:42 PM

40 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Have long thought that Fraser Forster's footwork isn't adequate a lot of the time. And the concession of the penalty began with a misplaced pass when hemmed in.

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05:40 PM

38 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Ward-Prowse takes a booking by pulling back Pereira before he can free Phillips storming down the right and with 30 yards of empty grass ahead of him.

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05:39 PM

36 min WBA 2 Saints 0

Great work from Diagne to pick off Armstrong's pass on halfway, bomb down the left and he whipped over the perfect, low, menacing cross to the back post where Phillips thumped in the second from an angle of about 30 degrees despite the close attentions of Bertrand.

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05:37 PM

GOOOOOOAL!!!

West Brom 2 Southampton 0 (Phillips)

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05:37 PM

33 min WBA 1 Saints 0

Pereira earned the penalty and converted it. Great pass from the right by Maitland-Niles who picked up Pereira's run down the inside-left. Pereira took a touch and fundamentally invited the foul and Forster obliged, sending him flying with his legs. Pereira chopped the ball back on to his right with his left and Forster's slide demolished him.

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05:34 PM

GOOOOOOOAL!!

West Brom 1 Southampton 0 (Pereira, pen) Smashed down the middle.

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05:34 PM

West Brom penalty

Bad tackle by Forster when beaten in the box. Stonebonker.

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05:33 PM

31 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Saints break from the goalkick with pace, carving their way through the centre of the field and Armstrong shoots towards the top-left corner and Johnstone claws it behind.

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05:32 PM

29 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Brilliantly slick West Brom move down the inside-left ends with Pereira picking out Diagne who has a just enough space on the right of the box to shoot but arcs it the wrong side of the post.

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05:31 PM

27 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Two scares for Wets Brom when Redmond is picked out by Ings' pass over the top. He hares towards the box down the right and pulls back a pass for Armstrong. It only reaches him via a deflection off Bartley and he stays on his feet, after being wrongfooted, long enough to prod a low shot that arrows wide of the left post. It doesn't have the power to go out and Ings is first to retrieve it. His effort, from the tightest of angles, flies across the six-yard box and away from goal.

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05:28 PM

24 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Redmond bustles up the inside-left channel, falls under the challenge of Yokuslu but the ball squirts out to Bertrand on the left who clips a pass into Ings' feet. The centre-forward opens his body and tries to curl a shot in at the far post but can't get it to bend back in.

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05:26 PM

22 min WBA 0 Saints 0

From Stockley Park VAR HQ:

"The position of the camera we couldn't draw a definitive line."

So they had to stick with the original offside decision from the linesman. #WBABOU #bbcfootball

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 12, 2021

A little better from Southampton with their full-backs pushed high but West Brom see off both attacks, up right and left, without drama.

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05:24 PM

19 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Time to end this failed VAR experiment. Human error we can take but human error compounded by bureaucratic ineptitude we can't handle.

West Brom keep carving out chances, Pereira nodding tamely at the keeper from 12 yards moments after Diagne had blazed wide from a tight angle on the right.

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05:22 PM

16 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Stockley Park is saying that because they were unable to draw a definitive line through Diagne because Bartley was in the way, they had to stay with the onfield decision. It's utterly farcical.

Meanwhile, Furlong, who have been rampant, flashes a header over the bar.

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05:18 PM

14 min WBA 0 Saints 0

This is very odd indeed. They didn't check the view from the other touchline.

West Brom will go mad and they've every right to go mad ... as someone once said when the boot was on the other foot 50 years ago.

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05:15 PM

12 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Some suggestion that the VAR decision was wrong. They put the lines in the wrong place, checking whether Bartley, who was not interfering with play, was offside and not Diagne who headed it past the keeper.

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05:14 PM

10 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Walker-Peters spins Townsend down by the right corner flag, turns him through 180 degrees, bombs into the box then fires a shot at the near post that Johnstone turns behind.

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05:11 PM

8 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Phillips and Pereira combine down the left but can't get behind Walker-Peters and Armstrong and have to settle for a throw-in. Townsend clips an outswinger when played up the line by the throw and Robinson, by the left corner of the six-yard box, hooks a volley wide. That was close and the result of dozy defending which let him make an unchallenged run.

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05:09 PM

6 min WBA 0 Saints 0

No - it has been ruled out. It was very tight - looked to me as though Diagne was onside, just when Furlong knocked the ball across the box from the right into the six-yard area. The chance came because Forster had made a weak parry from Phillip's driven shot from the left. But he gets away with it.

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05:07 PM

VAR check on a West Brom goal

Diagne nodded in Furlong's cross-shot.

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05:06 PM

3 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Maitland-Niles is OK. West Brom have a free-kick inside their own half which brings another when Bednarek clatters heavily into Diagne from behind. Should have been a yellow card.

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05:04 PM

1 min WBA 0 Saints 0

Southampton kick off, playing in their red shirts with a white and black slash and black shorts. They work the ball up towards the Albion area and give it to Johnstone.

Maitland-Niles goes up for the clearance and lands awkwardly, spraining, it seems, his left ankle.

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05:00 PM

Two minutes' silence

In memory of the Duke of Edinburgh commences.

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04:59 PM

The players are out

Apologies for the West Brom team news tweet glitsch. Should be picking up the right one now.

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04:54 PM

Ralph Hasenhuttl is asked whether Saints are safe on 36 points

'We have never looked down, we always try to climb the table and look in front. We have to be fresh in the mind and we have eight, maybe nine games coming up.'

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04:53 PM

Sam Allardyce speaks

And promotes defensive discipline, not going gung ho, the desire to score from a set-play and ends by saying: 'We need to win this game, a draw is no use to us based on the four points Newcastle have picked up over the last two games. So let’s try to win and stay in touch if we can.'

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04:43 PM

Conor Townsend speaks

The West Brom left-back is buoyant:

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04:40 PM

Now for those of you watching in black and white

West Bromwich Albion Johnstone; Furlong, O’Shea, Bartley, Townsend; Phillips, Yokuslu, Maitland-Niles, Matheus Pereira; Robinson, Diagne.
Substitutes Button, Gibbs, Robson-Kanu, Ajayi, Livermore, Diangana, Gallagher, Peltier, Ahearne-Grant.

Southampton Forster; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand; Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Diallo, Walcott; Ings, Redmond.
Substitutes McCarthy, Stephens, Adams, Djenepo, Minamino, Salisu, Tella, Ferry, Jankewitz.

Referee Simon Hooper (Swindon).

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04:03 PM

Southampton are unchanged

Unchanged 🤝

How #SaintsFC will line-up against #WBA tonight: pic.twitter.com/YS0sukxVHl

— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) April 12, 2021

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04:02 PM

Callum Robinson starts

No surprise there!

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02:56 PM

Good afternoon

And welcome to Monday evening's first Premier League match featuring, in the blue corner, the Boing! Boing! conquerors of Chelsea, West Bromwich Albion, and in the red corner, Southampton. Nineteenth plays 14th with the prize for the Albion, closing the gap to Newcastle United and Brighton, in 17th and 16th, to eight points. Hopes of somehow avoiding relegation seem forlorn, even after that stunning victory two weekends ago, but let's not forget the three wins and three draws in their last six games with which Sam Allardyce's Sunderland finished the 2015-16 season and helped them climb from 19th to 17th when all seemed lost.

Allardyce's medicine is no miracle, instant cure. It takes time to work. They seem to have run out of time but the way Okay Yokuslu, M'Baye Diagne and Ainsley-Maitland Niles played last week, plus the goalscoring contributions of Callum Robinson and Matheus Pereira suggests they can get at least get a spurt on in their last eight games, even if it doesn't ultimately prove successful.

Southampton came from 2-0 down to beat Burnley 3-2 last time out at St Mary's bit have been poor away from home, winning just one of eight on the road, and sit at the bottom of the Premier League's form table with only seven points from their last 13 games. But their injury woes have eased, Michael Obafemi, Oriol Romeu and William Smallbone are all out for the season but Danny Ings and Theo Walcott are fit again and even Kyle Walker-Peters might be back tonight. They have an FA Cup semi-final against Leicester at Wembley on Sunday and Ralph Hasenhuttl was refreshingly blunt when asked if he fancied the idea of a statue of himself outside St Mary's if he manages to emulate Lawrie McMenemy and win the Cup.

"A good friend of mine said one time that you don't want to have a statue because all the birds would just s--- on your head," he said. "That is the reason why I am not focused on a statue. I want to make history at this club. This is something I cannot deny that drives everybody in this club. We are just a short way away from having a big chance to win something big."

As for the Baggies Branislav Inanovic is the only definite absentee while Dara O'Shea will have (had) a fitness test at some point today.

Join us for the team news at 5pm.