Portsmouth v West Brom: Fratton Park survival job enough to bring out cold sweats but history on Baggies' side

It was only 10 days ago the Baggies last played someone below them in the table.

That was against a Norwich City side still in the relegation zone and resulted in Albion’s heaviest home defeat outside the top flight in the club's proud history.

If it was not clear before they were in relegation scrap, that 5-0 hammering opened everybody’s eyes to ‘the elephant in the room' – as new boss Eric Ramsay has since suggested.

The Norwich clash brought nerves, edginess and ultimately disaster, therefore a game at Fratton Park between the sides in 21st and 20th is surely enough to have any Baggie breaking out in cold sweats.

Yet for all their troubles this season – particularly away from home – the Albion faithful continue to travel in big numbers.

Every single ticket of the near-2,200 allocation were snapped up by fans who are desperate to believe this is the away game that can begin to turn around the desperate record on the road.

Ten consecutive league defeats away from home were brought to an end by Chris Mepham’s late scrambled equaliser at Derby County last Friday.

Away supporters chanted "we are staying up" after Mepham's header just about crept over the line at Pride Park.

And boss Ramsay lauded the support of the Baggies faithful and what their backing can bring.

He said: "It was a really important moment because they will be just so crucial to us between now and the end of the season.

"I want to make that very clear as well, that that's not lost on us. 

"It is something very tangible. It's not just a cliché around the fans being the 12th man, for this club they genuinely really are.

"And that was my first experience of that away end, and I know that that is something that we can really draw on and that won't be lost on the players in anyway."

Albion have doubts over Krystian Bielik (shoulder), while Karlan Grant (hamstring) faces three months out.

What the Baggies might have on their side, however, is history.

Fratton Park was the scene for the great escape of 1993/94 when a Lee Ashcroft header from an Ian Hamilton cross earned a 1-0 win on the final day of the Division One season in front of an estimated 10,000 travelling Baggies. That kept Albion up and sent Birmingham City down instead.

The most recent trip to Portsmouth was also one to remember as Carlos Corberan’s Albion ran riot to go top of the Championship just 16 months ago, with Alex Mowatt bagging a brace in a 3-0 win.

Dreams of the Premier League have since turned into fears of League One in the intervening period, with just four more wins recorded on the road – the same number of head coaches employed during that time.