Six Premier League great escapes and the games that sparked them: West Ham, Leicester… | OneFootball

The Premier League has seen its fair share of clubs making miraculous escapes from relegation over the years, but what has been the turning point for them?

A handful of clubs that have looked almost certain to go down have somehow managed to find the form to get them out of the relegation zone in the nick of time.

As Wolves cling on to hope that their win over Liverpool could be the start of their own unlikely survival story, we’ve taken a look at six of the greatest escapes in Premier League history and the games that started them.

West Brom (2004-05)

Famously to become the first side to be bottom of the Premier League at Christmas and stay up, Bryan Robson’s West Brom were on a run of only two wins in the league since December when they travelled to seventh-placed Charlton on March 19th, 2005.

The Baggies took the lead early on through a Geoff Horsfield header, before conceding an equaliser by Jonathan Johansson.

One turning point came when Charlton’s Talal El Karkouri was sent off for a two-footed tackle on Zoltan Gera. An inspired substitution by Robson turned out to be the next.

Robert Earnshaw replaced Kieran Richardson and duly scored a bullet header from close range to make it 2-1. Then, he finished after being put through by Gera to give West Brom a 3-1 advantage.

In the 89th minute, West Brom got a penalty and Earnshaw converted it to complete his hat-trick, becoming the only player to have scored a hat-trick in all four professional divisions in England, the FA Cup, the League Cup and in an international game.

Robson vowed after the 4-1 win: “As long as we keep playing the way we did in this match we have a chance.”

West Brom won the following week against Everton and only lost twice over the rest of the season. They were still bottom of the league with a game to go, but won their last game against Portsmouth to miraculously finish 17th, even if they were merely delaying their relegation by a year.

Portsmouth (2005-06)

By the time of Portsmouth’s game against Manchester City on March 11th, 2006, Harry Redknapp’s side had still not won a league game that calendar year.

The first half was a scrappy affair and ended goalless. Only around the hour mark did the game burst into life when Pedro Mendes scored from 25 yards out.

Pompey were brought back down to earth when Richard Dunne nodded in an equaliser for City in the 83rd minute, but there was to be one more twist.

The ball fell to Mendes in the third minute of injury time. He was over 30 yards out from goal, but took two touches to bring the ball down before firing past David James.

It finished 2-1 to Portsmouth. Their run of eight games without a win was over.

Redknapp said: “If we didn’t win today we were dead and buried. It has given the players a lift and the fans a lift. It’s going to be hard, but you can only keep going and what today’s result has done is keep us in there.”

From their next eight games, Pompey lost only once. They climbed out of the bottom three with five games to spare and finished 17th, four points clear of relegation.

West Ham (2006-07)

West Ham were bottom of the table and winless since December when they travelled to face Blackburn Rovers on March 17th, 2007.

A Christopher Samba header was all that separated the two sides going into the final 20 minutes, leaving West Ham’s chances of survival looking slim.

Carlos Tevez had other ideas. After winning a penalty by being upended by Brett Emerton, the striker scored the spot kick to equalise.

What followed was controversial. West Ham grabbed a winner from a goalmouth scramble, with the goal awarded to Bobby Zamora.

The only problems? The ball had ricocheted off Tevez, who was offside – oh, and it didn’t even actually cross the line.

West Ham held on to the victory and won six of their remaining eight games, including against champions Manchester United on the final day, and finished 15th, three points clear of relegation.

Fulham (2007-08)

Fulham had only won once away from home all season by the time of their trip to Manchester City on April 26th, 2008.

That didn’t look likely to change when City went 2-0 up by half-time courtesy of goals from Stephen Ireland and Benjani. However, they gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Diomansy Kamara scored with 20 minutes remaining.

Not long after, they got a penalty. Danny Murphy’s effort was saved, but he scored from the rebound to equalise.

The turnaround wasn’t finished there. Kamara picked out the top corner in stoppage time to make it 3-2 to Fulham.

“At 0-2 I honestly thought we weren’t out of it,” manager Roy Hodgson said. “I never lost hope, but to win it was extraordinary. We’ve given ourselves a chance now.”

Fulham also won their last two games against Birmingham City and Portsmouth without conceding a goal, climbing out of the bottom three just in time and finishing 17th.

A year later, they were finishing seventh and qualifying for the Europa League.

Wigan Athletic (2011-12)

Wigan fell into the relegation zone at the start of October and were still entrenched in it by the time they travelled to Liverpool – where they had never won in their history – on March 24th, 2012.

They were given the chance of a breakthrough when Martin Skrtel gave away a penalty with a high challenge on Victor Moses. Up stepped Shaun Maloney to give Roberto Martinez’s side the lead.

Luis Suarez scored to level things up before the break, but saw another goal disallowed for handball.

Instead, it was Wigan who went 2-1 up when James McCarthy’s effort deflected off Jamie Carragher and into the path of Gary Caldwell, who blasted past Pepe Reina.

Wigan survived a series of long balls to Andy Carroll to cling onto their three points. A few weeks later, another memorable win over Manchester United lifted them out of the bottom three.

That was the start of five wins from their last six games, which helped them finish 15th and safe by seven points.

The following season did see Wigan suffer the drop to the Championship, although the silver lining was winning the FA Cup and qualifying for the Europa League.

Leicester City (2014-15)

Bottom of the table since November, Leicester were on a run of eight games without a win – leaving them seven points adrift of safety – before hosting West Ham on April 4th, 2015.

They started strongly, taking the lead when Esteban Cambiasso scored from 20 yards out. But they missed the chance to double their lead when David Nugent had a penalty saved by Adrian.

It looked like it would come back to haunt them when Cheikhou Kouyate equalised for the Hammers. There were chances aplenty for either side to take the lead in the second half, but it would take until the last five minutes for the game to be decided.

And it was in Leicester’s favour. Andrej Kramaric had a shot cleared off the line, and then Andy King bundled in the winner. It finished 2-1 to Leicester.

The result didn’t lift them off the bottom of the table, but they beat West Brom, Swansea and Burnley in their next three games and all of a sudden found themselves in 17th place.

Remarkably, they ended up finishing as high as 14th. However, Nigel Pearson was sacked at the end of the season, making way for Claudio Ranieri.

And if you thought their Premier League survival in 2014/15 was a miracle, how about winning the whole thing in 2015/16?