Sam Allardyce's relegation rescue record and why the odds might be in Leeds United's favour

Allardyce has previously rescued three clubs in strife towards the foot of the Premier League in Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Everton. Although he does have one blemish in his last position at West Brom.

Allardyce first gave a sign of what was to come at Sunderland in 2015-16. In thirty Premier League games under his watch, they registered nine wins, nine draws and 12 losses.

The former Black Cats defender took over on Wearside that October when the north-east club were in 19th spot with just three points to their name – and no wins – from their opening eight matches after an awful start to the campaign.

Allardyce lost his first match, at West Brom, but a 3-0 derby triumph over Newcastle went down rather better.

Sunderland suffered five successive losses in a desperate December, but regrouped magnificently and lost just four times in the remainder of the campaign and beat the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea.

They stayed up with a game to spare following a 3-0 victory over Everton and finished 17th.

In the Christmas of 2016, Allardyce then decamped to London ahead of his next act of escapology with Crystal Palace.

They were in 17th spot when he took over, winning just four times in their opening 17 matches in 2016-17.

They were in a sticky spot and heading only one way, seemingly.

It was hard going at first and his first league win came at the sixth time of asking at Bournemouth.

The Eagles then went onto crash 4-0 at Sunderland, but Allardyce drew upon all of his experience to galvanise Palace and they won a magnificent seven times in the next 14 fixtures – beating Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool along the way.

A 4-0 late-season win over Hull City secured safety and sent the Tigers down as Palace finished 14th. They won eight times in 21 games under Allardyce that season, drawing twice and losing on 11 occasions.

In the autumn of 2017, Allardyce popped up at Everton and was handed another survival brief. The Blues had taken just 12 points from their first 13 games but by the end of that campaign, they finished eighth.

Allardyce won ten of his 25 league games at the helm, including four wins in his opening five matches to build momentum - in a stunning turnaround.

Allardyce's outstanding record was broken at The Hawthorns, after arriving in December 2020.His first four home games produced an aggregate score of 17-0 against – including a 5-0 loss to Leeds.

Albion won just four times in 25 top-tier matches under Allardyce, although the damage was done earlier in fairness. When he took over, the Baggies had taken just seven points from their opening 13 games.