(Reuters) - West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Pardew is hopeful his team can ensure Premier League survival this season and said the players need look no further than Saturday's opponents Leicester City for inspiration.
Leicester staged a remarkable fightback, winning seven of their last nine games in the 2014-15 season to finish six points clear of the relegation zone. Pardew said West Brom have to show similar character to stage their own great escape.
"It's an example to us," Pardew told a news conference on Friday. "The parallels are there, to be in the same position Leicester were, a point better off and everyone writing us off.
"You guys (the media) are writing us off, everyone is. We don't think that, and it's very important for us to show what we've got."
West Brom are bottom of the league with 20 points from 29 games and have lost their past five matches. They have managed only one win under Pardew, who took over from Tony Pulis in November.
The West Midlands club have maintained their top-flight status for the past seven seasons but are in danger of dropping down to the Championship if they do not arrest their slump.
West Brom skipper Jonny Evans is a doubt for the match against eighth-placed Leicester because of illness, but striker Hal Robson-Kanu is fit again after shaking off a hamstring injury.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman)
