IT'S getting tough at the top for Wanderers as they lead the "best of the rest" in the race for a UEFA Cup spot.
They are still in pole position, despite an horrific run of results since the turn of the year, but the pressure is mounting with Everton and Tottenham heading a chasing pack of five clubs poised to pounce in the run-in.
Reading, Portsmouth and Blackburn are also eyeing the top six finish that will guarantee UEFA Cup qualification and, although none of the teams is in particularly impressive form, all but Portsmouth are all on better runs than Wanderers, who kicked off 2007 as serious Champions League contenders and, just nine games later, are in grave danger of finishing among the also-rans.
They have been lucky up to now that none of their rivals have mounted a convincing charge, but, if they can't produce an instant response after losing three games in row for the first time this season, they will be overtaken on the last lap.
Sam Allardyce, who described next Saturday's home game against relegation-threatened Sheffield United as "make or break", is so concerned at the loss of form in every area of the team that he has issued back-to-basics orders in the hope of sparking a confidence-saving Reebok revival.
"We're still fifth because all the others have kept losing as well as us. So we've been very fortunate," the Whites boss said. "We should have had fifth place in the bag."
The manner of the 4-1 defeat at Manchester United - on the back of the defeats by Spurs and Blackburn - prompted Allardyce to describe Wanderers' European prospects as "shaky". It was a performance - seen in the context of a run that has seen them take just eight points from a possible 27 - that prompted threats of a major shake-up for the clash with Neil Warnock's Blades.
"Both ends have dried up completely. We couldn't hit a barn door and our resilience when we're in possession or out of possession has gone," he said.
"That's the way it goes when you're on a bad run.
"At the moment the lads are not getting to grips with the basics and until they do that, we are going to struggle for results. We've given five goals away in the last two games. The opposition haven't created them; they haven't earned their victories, we've made it easy for them."
Allardyce is not expecting a sudden return to the form that saw Wanderers end 2006 with five straight wins. With his defence suddenly fragile, his midfield tired and lacking in creativity and his front men struggling to convert the few chances coming their way, he hopes a roll-your-sleeves-up approach will at least achieve a result that will turn the tide.
"It will be a little bit edgy, but we have to play back to basics, back to playing the percentages and try and win the game from there," he said, anticipating a nervous encounter.
Wanderers, who were widely expected to finish no lower than fifth, have given their rivals all the encouragement they need to keep plugging away, knowing that, with Chelsea having won the Carling Cup, there will be at last two UEFA Cup places for the teams finishing behind the Champions League quartet. A further place will be available if, as the form book suggests, Chelsea and Manchester United contest the FA Cup Final and there could be another, if Spurs finish in the frame and win the UEFA Cup.
With an Intertoto place also up for grabs, there is a possibility that Wanderers could even finish as low as ninth and still qualify for Europe, but, such is the determination of the teams immediately below them, that they are sure to be given a serious run for their money in the remaining eight games.
Everton midfielder Leon Osman gave an insight into the ferocity the competition after the Toffees moved to within one point of the Whites and gave themselves a glimmer of hope of not only getting into Europe but even challenging Liverpool and Arsenal for a top four finish.
"We have gone back up a couple of places and we are chasing Bolton now," Osman said. "That has got to be our first target. We just want to pick up points. If we can get ourselves ahead of them, we'll reassess what we are aiming for.
"If you look at some of the results that we've had this year - taking four points off Arsenal and Liverpool, beating Tottenham at White Hart Lane - we are going to the big teams and taking more points off them than they are off us.
"If we could just be consistent and beat the so-called lesser teams, we wouldn't be far away.
"We know that April is going to be a really busy month for us. We have just got to deal with it but we believe we are going to get a result every game we play."
One of those games will be against Wanderers at the Reebok on Easter Monday, by which time Allardyce hopes his players will have achieved results against Sheffield United and at Wigan Athletic that will at least have restored confidence and at best put them back on track for Europe.
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