WHO says Wanderers will have nothing to play for in their final game of the season at West Ham tomorrow?

The pressure may be off but there is money to be earned and Sam Allardyce reckons there are points to be proved.

The money comes in the shape of the Premiership's prize fund - a matter of £450,000 per place, which in Wanderers' case could make the difference between collecting £1.8 million for finishing fourth bottom and £3.6 million for getting as high as 13th.

It is not a king's ransom but, with the Reebok boss having to work on such a tight transfer budget, £1.8m could give him even more scope to conjure up his own brand of transfer magic.

But Allardyce sounded more concerned with making points than earning prizes today as he took a swipe at the London-based media who savaged him earlier in the season for playing below-strength sides when Wanderers lost to Tottenham, 6-0 and 4-0 respectively, in the FA Cup and Worthington Cup.

He was roundly condemned for "showing disrespect" to the two competitions but vehemently maintained that Premiership survival was his only priority - a stance he now feels justified in having taken.

"It appeared that everyone else around us could play a rotation system except me," he recalled of the controversy stirred up by London-based national newspapers.

"But if there's one thing we did right this season - and we've done a lot right - it was doing what we did on those occasions. The fact is that, when we have had games in short periods of time, we haven't coped well. We may have done okay in the first game but not in the second. That's because we have a smaller squad than the rest and some older legs have struggled.

"We always did all right when we had plenty of rest and recovery in between games. That's why I took the decisions I did, which the London media took such great exception to. Of course, they are the experts! It's been nice to shut them up and it will be nice to get a good result in front of them tomorrow."

Ironically, the team Allardyce sends out at Upton Park may be classed as "below strength". Relieved of the pressures of the survival struggle, he will again make full use of his squad and involve some of the "fringe" players who have not made the starting line-up of late.

Stig Tofting, missing for eight games with a foot injury, could get a runout at the request of the Denmark national manager Morten Olsen, who has asked Wanderers to help him in his preparation for the World Cup Finals. But Mike Whitlow, Paul Warhurst and Ricardo Gardner will not be pressed into service and Bruno N'Gotty, who has been nursing an achilles tendon injury for six games, will get a well-deserved break.

Kevin Nolan, who withdrew from the England Under 20 squad currently playing in the Toulon Tournament, could also be rested with Michael Ricketts, Dean Holdsworth, Jermaine Johnson, Bo Hansen and Kostas Konstantinidis coming into the reckoning.

"I'll perhaps play one or two who are on the fringe of the squad and haven't been getting too many games recently," Allardyce confirmed, looking considerably more relaxed than in recent weeks.

"It's going to be nice going into a game not having the pressures we've had recently. I thought we put up a good performance against Arsenal butb their better quality finishing was outstanding. If we can repeat that performance against West Ham, we will do well.

"It's going to be tough because West Ham are impressive at home but the pressure is off now and we're aiming to finish the season off on a positive note.

"We have not lost three Premiership games in a row all season and I don't want to start now."