Festive spirit is in short supply for Pulis
TONY Pulis claims the scheduling of games over the hectic festive period is heavily weighted towards the bigger clubs and their ability to rotate larger squads.
Albion, who have used the second-fewest number of players of any Premier League club this season, kicked off a busy run of three games in seven days at the Emirates Stadium on Boxing Day.
The Baggies travel to Southampton on New Year’s Eve before rounding off their festive programme at home to Hull on January 2. Asked after the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal whether clubs with modest resources were at a disadvantage over the Christmas programme, Pulis said: “Of course.
“The bigger squads, they get an opportunity to play players of a level we can’t compete with, but I’m not criticising our players.”
The busy sequence comes after a nine-day break for the Baggies, prompting Pulis to lambast the authorities for the way the games have been scheduled.
“Two away games is difficult at this time of the year anyway,” he said. “I just don’t know why they’ve done double-headers at this time of year.
“To have nine days’ break and then come into a spell where we’re playing two games in three days is amazing. I want to play Christmas games and over the Christmas period but we’ve had a chance this year to spread it out a bit better.”