West Brom give Alan Pardew chance to prove his worth

Despite falling to six successive defeats, the Baggies boss is now expected to be handed the next few games in the Albion hot-seat because the board do not wish to plunge the club into further turmoil.

Albion considered Pardew’s position over the weekend but decided to keep him after the players showed renewed fight against Watford.

Thanks to a dearth of credible alternatives there was also a concern that sacking him could leave the club rudderless for the run-in.

Although his position remains under scrutiny, the team are now eight points from safety with just nine games remaining and time is fast running out for one last roll of the dice.

And so the board have now decided to keep faith in Pardew for the foreseeable future.

Despite that, they are aware that if the losing streak continues and the atmosphere among the fanbase grows toxic, they may be forced to act.

Chief Executive Mark Jenkins flew out to China last night to give an update on the Baggies to Albion owner Guochuan Lai and main sponsors Palm.

Jenkins will speak at Palm’s annual general meeting this week before returning to watch Saturday’s match with Leicester at The Hawthorns.

Albion were always due to send a representative to the meeting and Jenkins’s appearance has nothing to do with Pardew’s position.

Lai bared his teeth last month when he sacked chairman John Williams and chief executive Martin Goodman, but he is not expected to order Jenkins to sack Pardew this week having already agreed to keep him over the weekend.

Jenkins was chief executive under former owner Jeremy Peace but he left the club after 14 years at the start of 2016 following Lai’s takeover because he believed it was a natural parting of the ways.

However, Lai urged him to stay and Jenkins returned last month when the owner sacked chairman John Williams and chief executive Martin Goodman.

Palm is an eco-town company in China affiliated with Lai and they are Albion’s main sponsors.

As well as sponsoring the shirt for an estimated £3m per year, they sponsor the club’s Walsall training ground too.