SAM Allardyce prepared to field his "Second Xl" in Saturday's third round FA Cup tie at Second Division Tranmere and headed off any potential criticism of his selection policy.

Already without three suspended first teamers, the Wanderers' boss is planning to take the opportunity to rest a number of others in readiness for next Wednesday's Reebok derby with Premiership Champions and current leaders, Manchester United, who play Aston Villa in the Cup on Sunday.

He could stand accused, as he has in the past, of not treating the cup with respect but he answered the criticism in advance when he said: "Whatever stick comes my way I will take it gladly on my very broad shoulders.

"No doubt Sir Alex Ferguson will change his squad to rest his players ahead of Bolton Wanderers and if I didn't do the same I would be running the risk of not being in a position to pick a team capable of beating Manchester United, which our supporters would not thank me for."

Allardyce is relieved that Ivan Campo, Ricardo Gardner and Kevin Davies are able get their one-match bans out of the way, without impacting on the Premiership programme. And he left no one in any doubt as to his intention to let others put their feet up over the weekend, when he added: "Having to play Manchester United on Wednesday limits how many players I can play tomorrow."

Wanderers have no new injury worries after ending a seven-match December programme with two tough Christmas fixtures against Liverpool and Leicester in the space of 48 hours, but with at least seven games to be played in January, the Reebok backroom staff are mindful of the fatigue factor.

"No one who has played all or most of the games in December -- and there is a lot of them -- will be considered," Allardyce said. "While everybody else has been celebrating Christmas, they have been taking themselves to the brink of fatigue, physically and mentally.

"So the battery charger has to be plugged in."