We’re in a relegation battle, Hodgson admits

WEST BROM boss Roy Hodgson has no doubt his side are in a relegation battle — and that their results at home must improve if they are to emerge from it unscathed.

Albion were beaten 2-1 by Norwich at The Hawthorns on Saturday, which cut the gap between themselves in 15th and the Premier League drop zone to five points.

It was West Brom’s third straight loss in the league and seventh in the 11 top-flight fixtures at their own ground this term, during which they have scored just eight goals.

That record is concerning Hodgson, who said: “I’ve had lots of times in my career when I’ve had long runs of away defeats, but I don’t know if I can remember seven home defeats.

“It is a very negative statistic. If we are going to survive in this league and get to where we want to be, we need to take points at home and once again we have failed to do so.”

Asked if he felt his side were in a relegation fight, Hodgson said: “We have been in that for a long time, and will be in it for a long time to come.

“There are a lot of teams in it because all you need is a couple of bad results and then you are dragged right down there.”

West Brom went close in the first half, with Peter Odemwingie’s shot being tipped on to the bar and James Morrison having an effort cleared off the line, only for Andrew Surman’s volley to then hand Norwich the advantage in the 43rd minute.

Fit-again Shane Long came off the bench and equalised with a penalty in the 68th minute following Daniel Ayala’s foul on Jerome Thomas.

It was not enough to salvage them a point, though, as a Canaries breakaway 11 minutes from time saw Steve Morison nod in the winner from a Grant Holt cross.

Long, who returned after being sidelined recently by a back problem, feels the Baggies have not been playing better than results would suggest at home but need to start making it count.

“I think in a lot of the games we have played well,” he said. “We are losing to teams around us, which is not helping us, and if you look at the likes of Wigan and Stoke, there are a lot of games there that we should not have lost.

“But just a sucker blow at the end and that’s it — the points are gone. It is something we have to learn from.’’

It was a second consecutive away win for Norwich, who remain ninth in the table and have amassed an impressive tally of 28 points from their 21 Premier League fixtures since winning promotion to the top-flight last summer.

They are still looking for their first clean sheet of the season, but when asked if that worried him, Canaries manager Paul Lambert said: “It would do if we weren’t winning games.