Premier League fixture panel has 'shafted' West Brom, bemoans Sam Allardyce

The Baggies headed to Villa Park on Sunday having been beaten by Leicester just three days earlier.

Instead of playing two games in the space of a few days, Allardyce and Dean Smith had hoped the derby could be rearranged for the weekend of April 17 with both teams not having a fixture.

But the Premier League refused the request much to the anger of Allardyce, who was also left seething with the governing body and how it organises its fixtures back in February.

Albion were due to face relegation rivals Brighton and Newcastle on consecutive weekends until the Premier League threw in a rearranged clash with Everton.

And Allardyce said he decided to rest O’Shea and Phillips for the Villa game having once again been left unimpressed with how the fixtures had been organised.

“It was a difficult one leaving them out,” the boss said. “But I’ll tell you now, if we didn’t have to play on Sunday having also played on Thursday – we would have played the same team.

“But because we got shafted by these fixtures yet again, I had to make a couple of changes to bring some fresh legs in.

“The players that were left out, I know how disappointed they were. But that is something I felt we had to do and also change the system slightly.

“Apart from the last second, it all worked extremely well, we got the performance we needed.

“Yes, the players who were left out were disappointed. But that is the way the Premier League goes when you have a squad and when you get shafted with the fixture list.

“But I was satisfied with the overall performance.”