ONE of this winter’s hot topics has been the congested Christmas schedule, not least with this afternoon’s opponents, Crystal Palace.

And while Sam Allardyce cited festive-season fatigue as a prime reason for his side’s loss to Swansea on Tuesday, Wanderers go into today’s match on the back of collecting seven points from their three games over Christmas.

Further evidence of the Whites’ tip-top conditioning comes from James Henry and Max Clayton’s late goals against Scunthorpe and Coventry respectively, to garner three points that could prove crucial come the end of April.

Phil Parkinson rewarded his players for their efforts with Christmas Day off and two days’ rest following that 2-2 draw at the Ricoh Arena. And when he oversaw his players’ first training session back he was delighted to see the sharpness in them.

“A lot of managers have been speaking about playing two games in 48 hours and how difficult it is,” said Parkinson. “It is tough, I watched Palace play at Swansea and you could see the Emirates performance was in the legs, it was visible from the first whistle.

“As for ourselves going to Coventry, sometimes it is difficult to find those levels again, that you’ve reached two days earlier.

“But the fact we chased the game and came back, I’ve got to give the lads great credit for that, not just on the day but for the fact they have looked after themselves so well over the Christmas period.

“We haven’t trained a great deal, after Monday we gave the lads a couple of days off, we felt they deserved it and we felt everyone at the training ground needed to recharge the batteries in preparation for this game.

“Getting a home draw was good. It was what we wanted and another factor after the Christmas schedule – we didn’t want a long trip down south taking any more energy out of the lads. We trained on Thursday morning and I have to say I was very pleased with how the lads looked and the quality of the training so that bodes well for the weekend, they look as though they’re champing at the bit to be selected. You’d expect the lads to have trained well because this is a game where there’s no pressure on us.”

A very different story unfolded in south London, where Allardyce was shouldering his share of blame for defeat to the Premier League strugglers from South Wales.

“The reason for the performance was fatigue,” he said in the wake of their 2-1 loss. “It’s blatantly obvious our energy levels couldn’t get high enough to stop Swansea passing the ball. There is a fatigue level that made them struggle.

“I have to take some responsibility – picking almost the same side was wrong. I could have put fresher legs on.”

Despite the pressures and the problems at Palace, Parkinson knows his side are up against it, regardless of their line-up today.

The visitors will be without Wilfried Zaha and Bakary Sako, both of whom are away on African Cup of Nations duty, and although Christian Benteke is out through injury Chealsea loan man Loic Remy may make his debut.

Not that Parkinson expects any complacency from a man he once played under and studied alongside.

“When you look at the players he’s got who can come in they’re all Premier League players, I don’t think Sam will be playing under-23s, I think he’ll play as strong a team as he can,” added the Whites boss. “Sometimes the strongest team is one with a bit of freshness in it. We’ll have to wait and see, we’ve had a good look at them and we know they’ve got quality.

“I’m confident we’ll give a good account of ourselves, that’s key, that’s what we’ll be aiming to do.

“I know Sam, many years ago when I was a player at Bury he helped out as Mick Walsh’s number two, and Steve Parkin played with him at West Brom, so we’ve come across Sam many times and I’ve been on a few courses with him.

“I have always enjoyed his company and he’s a great man to listen to on a coaching course.

“He’s great at sharing his ideas and what he’s done at clubs. He’s a terrific fella and we look forward to hosting him.”