Sam Allardyce says the players picked to face Blackpool in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup have a “massive opportunity” to impress.
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The Baggies boss is expected to rotate his XI for the tie at Bloomfield Road, with a number of first-team squad members who’ve not featured much over the Christmas period set to start against the Sky Bet League one side.
And Allardyce has challenged the eleven selected players to show their “professionalism” and “motivation” on Saturday afternoon when they face the Seasiders.
He said: “We can’t be the banana skin against Blackpool on Saturday.
“I’m asking the players who will be selected to show their professionalism, their Premier League quality and why they are playing for a Premier League football club.
“I think the early stages, as much as I warn them, will come as a shock to the players because they will be out to claim a scalp and a Premier League one at that.
“The Blackpool players will probably run much harder and further than normal because they will want to beat us.
“It’ll be a difficult game for us. We need to be really professional.
“We’ve had a really tough period over the last few weeks where it has been game after game. It’s only now this week where we can get other squad members into the team who are experienced players.
“They’ve got an opportunity to say to us on Saturday that they are here, they are good enough and they should be in the team in the Premier League.
“That is their challenge. Their challenge is to show us they are good enough to play for this club in the Premier League.
“It’s a massive opportunity for them to play well and be putting pressure on me to put them in the team at Wolves the following week.
“After the game, I want to have a number of players who have impressed me that haven’t played much since I came here.”
