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Sam Allardyce’s reign at West Brom got off to a miserable start when all 10 Baggies men fell in a miserable loss to Aston Villa.
Anwar El Ghazi’s double and Bertrand Traore’s sublime shot earned the visitors a dominant derby victory.
The firing of Jake Livermore in the first half for a reckless challenge on Jack Grealish, improved from a yellow card after a VAR review, added to the nightmare for Allardyce.
Albion, who is in second place, has only seven points; no Premier League team has had fewer than eight points after 14 games and avoided the fall.
Villa moved up to ninth place, three points out of the top five with two games to play, following his well-deserved victory.
Dean Smith’s team has come back from four losses in five to win at Wolves and now Hawthorns.
However, there doesn’t seem to be a quick recovery for Albion, who broke the blueprint built under Slaven Bilic when they turned to Allardyce.
The former England manager faces a monumental task to prevent the Baggies from slipping back into the Championship.
And, after two and a half years away from management, it got more difficult when Vila scored at five minutes.
The hosts were guilty of shutting down and Traore was given too much time to hang a cross at the far post for El Ghazi, who lost Darnell Furlong to shoot from close range.
Albion never settled, with John McGinn shooting and Ollie Watkins nodding wide in a comfortable first 25 minutes for the visitors.
The hosts lacked cohesion and while Villa was far from fluid, they were happy to let the Baggies play in front of them.
Albion never looked like they were going to strike back and Allardyce’s night got worse when Livermore was fired eight minutes before halftime.
The midfielder launched into a reckless lunge on Grealish, despite Albion having just won a free kick, and Martin Atkinson initially showed him a yellow card.
The VAR intervened and the referee checked his monitor before updating the card to direct red.
Livermore had taken off and the decision was correct, but Villa’s Kortney Hause was lucky to get away with just a yellow card shortly after despite planting his cleats on Grady Diangana’s ankle.
Villa shrugged off the controversy to press for a second and Sam Johnstone took advantage of Grealish’s push before McGinn drifted off after the break.
They thought they found him with 19 minutes left when Watkins converted a cross from Matty Cash, only for the forward to be marginally declared offside.
Johnstone’s fine save denied El Ghazi, but he could only see as Traore sealed the game with six minutes to go, the forward passed the ball to the corner from the edge of the area.
Ghazi made it 3-0 from the penalty spot with two minutes remaining after Semi Ajayi’s awkward foul on Grealish and there was still time for Johnstone to deny the midfielder a hat-trick, turning his shot around.
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