Sam Allardyce: West Brom 'hindered' by Everton fixture placement
Sam Allardyce has again expressed his anger at the Premier League for moving Albion's clash against Everton to Thursday – with the boss saying he will probably have to rest players for the game.
The Baggies are in desperate need of points as they look to pull off a great escape and retain their top flight status.
But with Albion facing a relegation six-pointer against Newcastle on Sunday, Allardyce fears he will now have to rest players for the visit of the Toffees.
Originally the teams were supposed to meet on March 20 but that had to be rearranged after Carlo Ancelotti's side progressed in the FA Cup.
Ten days ago, the Baggies dominated Burnley despite playing for over an hour an with 10 men after Semi Ajayi was sent off.
Allardyce believes the Clarets underperformed in that game because they had played in mid-week while Albion hadn't.
And he feels it is unfair his side now has to play on Thursday while Newcastle will enter the game at the weekend having had a full week to prepare.
"If I don't rest players on Thursday I will have to rest them on Sunday – that is an absolute fact," Allardyce said.
"We ran Burnley into the ground with 10 men because we didn’t have a game in midweek and they did. That shows you the difference.
"It’s something we have had no help with. We are trying to save ourselves in the Premier League but we have just been hindered by this.
"I'm having to think about both games not one.
"After Everton – what are we going to look like against Newcastle? What team are we going to pick?
"Will I be doing the players a disservice by putting them out again after the Thursday night game?
"These are all the things we have to calculate.
"We don’t want to be calculating them but we have to because we have been put in this predicament."
Allardyce says if he does rest players and Albion don't get results, it will ultimately be him that gets the blame and not the Premier League.
"If we don’t get the results I will get the blame for it," he continued.
"But one thing that's for sure is that there is no need for this game on Thursday.
"There was another space where it could have been fitted in - just after the international break.
"Why couldn’t it happen then? It is totally and utterly bizarre from our point of view.
"It feels like a double kick in the teeth. It feels like we don’t want you in the Premier League, we aren’t bothered about you."
