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Sam Allardyce says he will start giving Cenk Tosun more game time once Everton have secured their Premier League safety.

And Big Sam has also told the £27m striker he needs to bring his fitness levels up to scratch if he is to cope in England.

The January signing was an unused substitute against Crystal Palace on Saturday with injuries forcing Allardyce into using all three of his replacements.

(Image: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

And though Everton were 3-1 up at the time of his last change, Allardyce says he not willing to risk the three points by putting on another striker.

But the Blues boss is hoping to start using Tosun more towards the end of the season but insists his immediate focus is making sure they reach 40 points.

Asked why he didn’t bring Tosun on he replied: “How could I?

“Putting Davies alongside Rooney might have meant they had made it 3-2 and that would be the last thing we wanted.

“You have to understand that we have had two players off in the first-half and had we had another injury which we did we had to put Morgan (Schneiderlin) on.

(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

“Had we not had that we would have put those players on particularly when 3-0 up. But once we got two injuries that was impossible for me to even consider.

“Wayne and Tom are not defensive minded midfield players and because they have nicked a penalty I didn’t want to slip up and let them get back to 3-2.”

Tosun has found himself on the bench for the last three games having started consecutive matches after joining from Besiktas.

“He is struggling with the pace of the Premier League which happens to more players than it doesn’t to who come in in January,” Allardyce added.

“There are more that struggle than actually succeed. As time goes on and the more we get closer to our safety the more we can release and see what he's got.”

(Image: Tony Marshall/Getty Images)

Allardyce admits that even though Tosun’s fitness levels were up to scratch in the Turkish league, they are currently not at the required level in England.

“It is a struggle in the Premier League.” he said.

“They were up to scratch when he was playing but there is more demand at this level to get to the level and show the ability he has got.

“There is no doubting his goal-scoring ability but you have to have the capabilities to get in those positions to score those goals and that is the hard bit.

“It is not unusual to see a centre forward struggle when they first come we have seen many, many over the years do that.

“You have seen as many as I have.

(Image: John Walton/PA Wire)

“We have got to try and be patient and because the team is winning without him we can be patient at the moment.

“When we are safe and moving forward we will still try and finish as high up as we can but we will have an opportunity to put him on the pitch, the most important thing for me at the moment is securing our Premier League status and going from there.”

Everton’s players jet off to the Middle East later this week for a warm weather training camp and Big Sam hopes it offers Tosun the chance to get up to speed.

“It will be important for him to train really, really hard particularly when you are walking out and it is chucking it down with rain,” he explained.

“It is not that he is not used to it but it is freezing cold. When you are on the grass in short sleeves and shorts and a pair of boots players don’t want to stop training and don’t want to stop playing football, in fact we have to stop them and say you have done enough lads.

“They say: ‘Lets have another 10-15 minutes.’ That is what you get when you get out in the right climate.”