Darnell Furlong: Chelsea triumph can help West Brom bridge the gap

The Baggies shocked the entire Premier League by securing a thumping 5-2 victory at Stamford Bridge last weekend.

Prior to that game, many fans and pundits had written off their chances of staying in the top flight with relegation looking a certainty.

But the win over Thomas Tuchel’s side has led to renewed hope Sam Allardyce’s men can defy the odds and retain their Premier League status.

Furlong believes – with any great escape – there is always a game that sparks an upturn in form. And he sees no reason why the win against Chelsea can’t inspire the Baggies to go on a winning run.

“It was a great performance against Chelsea,” he said.

“It was a fantastic result for us in terms of what it has done for our belief and hopefully the belief among the fans.

“Before the game people were writing us off, but now people are talking about us still having a chance of staying up.

“We’ve seen it happen so many times in football, there will be a spark or a moment which completely turns the season on its head.

“Hopefully, the game against Chelsea was that moment for us, but we know we’ve still got a long way to go and a lot of work to do in our final eight games.”

Albion host Southampton on Monday in what is, effectively, a must-win fixture.

The Saints ran out comfortable winners when the teams met at St Mary’s back in October.

But Furlong says Albion enter the game full of confidence.

“The Chelsea win gave our confidence levels a big boost, as did scoring plenty of goals down at Stamford Bridge,” the defender continued.

“We want to take that into our game against Southampton. We know Chelsea will count for nothing if we don’t follow that up with a positive result on Monday.

“We’ve never stopped believing. Yes, we’ve had a few tough results over the season, but we’re also capable of results like Chelsea and if we can produce performances like that in the last eight games, we will give ourselves a real chance.

“We’re going to give it everything and we’re still in the fight.

“Southampton are a good team. At the start of the season they were up near the top and got into first place at one stage.

“They still have that quality in the dressing room. But three points is our only target. We’re going to war. We’re going out there to fight.”