Sam Allardyce admits he has been trying to protect Newcastle United winger James Milner from 'burn-out'.

The England Under 21 international was restored to the Newcastle starting XI for Saturday's 4-1 home defeat to Portsmouth and was replaced with 20 minutes to go.

He had started the previous two matches on the bench and Allardyce explained his reasoning behind resting Milner.

"We've given James a rest, on the bench and coming off it, because of his severe workload over the last 12 months when he's probably played 60-odd matches for Newcastle in four major cup competitions and all summer for England Under 21s," Allardyce told the Sunday Sun.

"I don't want to burn him out, so we've taken him out and given him a little bit of a rest, physically and mentally.

"We've kept him off and told him to stay at home a few days rather than come in and train, just to switch off a little bit.

"I think it's important to let the body and the mind relax. If they never relax you can never get ready for the next bout or the next battle. If you're constantly in that mode you're easily fatigued.

"He'd go on and on and on, and run and run and run. But at the end of the day you've got to be careful that you don't burn them out.

"When he comes back he'll come back better and stronger and more forceful. He's not really been out of the picture, he's just had a bit of a rest."