Everton manager Sam Allardyce has criticised the timing of Premier League fixtures on deadline day, suggesting it heaps too much pressure on players and managers.

Allardyce believes the midweek round of games could have been re-organised so as not to clash with last-minute deals.

He also believes organising games so close to the FA Cup fourth round made it inevitable many managers would rest players last weekend and is curious why the calendar was organised in such a way.

“I said this last year. Because it’s FA Cup they fit the fixture in. That’s why they do it,” said Allardyce.

“You can draw your own conclusions from it. Why not play it next weekend? Next midweek? Because there is no window next week and every player is ours, nobody is getting speculated on or being bought or sold. It’s true, I’m a manager and I want the best possible opportunities to function correctly and I have enough pressure in the game as it is at the moment without heaping more on top of me which is exactly what this does, on every manager in the Premier League.

“Perhaps they will listen to Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp more than me in the future because I have been banging on about this for 15 years now. Not just the window, but the break of the season that we all seem to keep ignoring.”