Sam Allardyce has revealed that West Brom and Aston Villa approached the Premier League about the possibility of playing each other this weekend – but the local derby remains scheduled for the following Sunday evening.
Sam Allardyce said: “We just need to be Leicester. If we beat Leicester, because we can’t play this weekend like we wanted to, we have got to hope the teams above us lose. We wanted to play Aston Villa this weekend. Both Dean Smith and I wanted us to play this weekend because we didn’t have a game because the teams we are supposed to be playing are still in the cup. For some bizarre, unearthly, reason it’s not been allowed, which means we have to sit. Instead of us putting pressure on the teams above us by playing on Saturday and beating Villa, instead, we are going to have to wait to the following Thursday to play and that is wrong.”