West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has bemoaned his side's lack of upcoming matches with players desperate for match sharpness. "Selection processes are what a manager needs and it gives us a good, broad base of squad members in strength in depth to select from moving forward in the last third of the season," he said.
"Our difficulty is that coming into March we've only got three games in the month. It's going to be a big period to actually manage the players without really enough games.
"We had too many games in December and January and now because of circumstances with Manchester United beating Reading and an international break as well, we've not got enough in March.
"We've got a big squad fully fit, but only three matches for them to compete in.
"We'll keep on top of the players' fitness and make sure we're ready for every game because with such long periods [between games] keeping the players focused and concentrated is one of the difficulties.
"We'll look at the week-to-week management of the players and decide what we want to do. More importantly, we have to keep them fit and keep them all ready for selection."
