SAM ALLARDYCE WILL be forced to select Premier League fringe players in England’s World Cup 2018 qualification bid, he has conceded.

The former Sunderland manager accepts that he is working with the smallest pool of players to date with just 34% of Premier League players eligible to play for England.

And his task has instantly been made harder by James Milner’s hint that he may quit international football.

“I think you have to select players who aren’t playing for their clubs,” he told reporters.

I talked to Roy [Hodgson] many times about the fact you are often picking fringe players as well as regulars.

“That goes without saying now when you’ve only got 34 per cent, but I also understand the pressures of being a Premier League manager.

One of the hard bits is having the smallest available pool of English players ever.”

Allardyce’s first match in charge of the Three Lions is an away to Slovakia on September 4 in the opening game of Group F.

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