Sam Allardyce’s EPL Feud Does Arsenal Massive Service

Sam Allardyce has been very outspoken about his disdain for the EPL scheduling powers, as he is being forced to sit his big guns against Arsenal.

Sam Allardyce is not one to mince words. If every EPL manager was a movie character, he would be the villain. That’s not to say he’s a bad guy, he just has quite the temper and he does not hide how he feels about certain people – or things.

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The Sunderland manager is absolutely livid that the EPL has stuck a fixture midweek after the FA Cup third round kicks off. As Allardyce so eloquently puts it: “It’s diabolical. We’re flogging the lads. There are more and more injuries every year but it’s completely ignored by the Premier League. It’s unbelievable,” (via the Evening Standard).

Allardyce went on to point out that he would “of course” be making changes because he did not have a choice. Therefore the Sunderland side Arsenal will be facing at the weekend will not be Allardyce’s first choice. Seeing as how the Black Cats are fighting for their Premier League lives, they need results from EPL clashes almost more than Arsenal, who sit top of the table.

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While you would never root for this kind of thing to happen, it is turning into a massive blessing for Arsenal. The Gunners are having massive depth problems and to be graced with the news that Sunderland will similarly be unable to field their main starting XI is fantastic. That means that Arsenal’s path is laid out for them.

I had debated earlier in the week what exactly Arsenal’s approach should be to the Emirates clash. With points at a premium in the EPL, the FA Cup almost inevitably had to take a back seat. With Mesut Ozil and crew already cruising towards exhaustion, there was very little that could stop the problem from worsening if they had to run out for a game Saturday and Wednesday.

Now, Arsenal can confidently start youngsters like Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Krystian Bielik with the understanding that Sunderland is not going to be able to run out their starters. It will be like a reserves vs reserves game and much like the starters, Arsenal’s reserves are superior. Or at least they should be. Hopefully this does not turn out like Sheffield United.

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This should be enough to give Arsenal a spark of confidence that whoever they send out will be able to contend with Sam Allardyce’s choices. Arsenal must retain relevance in the FA Cup just in case the EPL chase goes sour.