Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce 'would have a bet' on Newcastle United beating Crystal Palace

Sam Allardyce would bet on Newcastle beating Crystal Palace if the FA rules allowed it.

The Sunderland boss is convinced that Palace will have been celebrating their place in the FA Cup final, and will no longer be thinking of their Premier League games.

Former Newcastle manager Allardyce said:

“Newcastle will win on Saturday, I’d have a bet on that if I could,” said Allardyce. “Newcastle pose the bigger threat to our survival.

“Palace are in the FA Cup final and they would all have been celebrating, they would all have been on the pop,” he insisted.

“They won’t be mentally ready for it and neither will Alan, because he’ll be thinking about the final now, not thinking about Newcastle away.

“You’re not going to stop the lads celebrating having got through to a final, particularly Crystal Palace, because it’s such a good achievement for the club, the fans, Alan and the owner, there is such euphoria around the place.

“It may well serve in reverse, he could say, ‘Off you go lads, go and play today and relax, the result doesn’t matter as much,’ and they might win.

“But it could go the other way, ‘Ooh, I’ve had a good couple of days and I don’t want to get injured for the final, I might just stay out of that tackle.’ Who knows? I suspect it might be the latter.”

Newcastle are currently on 30 points, in 19th place, and Sunderland are two places above them, with 31 points and a game in hand.

Allardyce’s Sunderland play Stoke this weekend, but he was more wary of the threat posed by a side who also have little to play for in the league:

“I think there’s been a little too much emphasis on the switching-off scenario because for me it’s been the list of injuries that are the big problem for Mark (Hughes, Stoke’s manager),” Allardyce insisted. “He’s got six or seven key players missing who would normally be playing week in, week out.

“I think that’s a bigger problem than everybody suggesting they’ve switched off. I’ve known Mark for years and I’ve never known him take it easy on his players ever. I expect he’s extremely upset about the way they’ve lost the last three games.

“For me it’s been more of the catastrophic injury list than them switching off but if those players are missing on Saturday, that helps us a great deal. If some of those players are back it makes life more difficult for us.”

After their visit to the Britannia Stadium, Sunderland face Chelsea and then Sunderland at home, before visiting Watford on the last day of the season.