West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has urged Premier League officials to reconsider introducing a winter break to help protect players.

Allardyce, who recently suggested that he may rest some members of his squad in December, believes that the current workload is putting too much pressure on players in the top tier of English football due to their international commitments and pre-season preparations.

"The load of constant performance at the highest level takes its toll across the whole of the Premier League," the Hammers boss told reporters. "The demand on the players is so great for so long that eventually they're going to break down. If you look at the load placed this year on players, it's greater than ever before.

"We still don't look after our players as well as other countries because we don't put in a couple of weeks break in January for everybody to re-charge the batteries.

"At the end of the season players will be called up for qualifiers again and friendlies. Then there are pre-season tours in America because the money is great - it's a constant vicious circle that is putting them under risk of injury all the time."

Allardyce's side returns to action against Everton on Saturday afternoon.