HE speaks the words but his expression suggests he can hardly believe he is actually saying them ... "It's only the middle of November and we're talking about six-pointers already!"

Thus Sam Allardyce summed up the significance of Saturday's basement battle with West Brom. Bottom versus second bottom - even at this early stage of the season, the pressure is on and the Reebok boss is realistic enough to acknowledge: "To come out of the game with nothing would be devastating from our point of view."

Things already look grim for Wanderers who have not won since their Old Trafford triumph on September 11 and managed just eight points from 11 games. They would do themselves a power of good if they could leapfrog the Baggies and make up ground on the rest in the mini-league of the Premiership that decides who gets another chance to feast at the top table and who is banished to fight over the scraps in the Nationwide League.

Defeat hardly bears thinking about so Allardyce is leaving nobody under any illusions as to his intentions.

In such situations results are the be-all and end-all; victory at any cost. For the time being, if you want to see uninhibited, free-flowing football ... well, please yourselves. But if you want a nailbiting scrap between two teams playing for the highest stakes, the Reebok is the place to be.

"No thrills, no spills," Allardyce suggests, "just a straightforward up an' at 'em battle. If that's the way it has to be then that's what we'll do.

"I hope in the middle of all that we'll be able to play some football when we get the opportunity, as we did against Birmingham City last week when we dominated the game before going a goal down against the run of play."