Tony Pulis: FA should pay players on international duty

Tony Pulis says national FA's should cover the costs of his international stars when they are with their countries for friendlies.

James Chester played 90 minutes in Wales' 3-2 defeat to Holland while Jonny Evans and Gareth McAuley also played the full game as Northern Ireland beat Latvia 1-0 last week.

West Brom boss Pulis has been a long-standing critic of international breaks and labelled friendlies as a 'waste of space' earlier this month.

And, ahead of Saturday's visit of Arsenal, the Baggies chief has questioned whether the respective associations should pay for taking players.

He said: "If you went to all the associations and said that for friendly matches, you're going to pay the wages for two weeks, and if they get injured you're going to cover those injuries, and if they never play again you cover the insurance, let's see how many friendly games are played then.

"My argument is that at this time of the year there are lots of games. For Gareth McAuley to go away and play for Northern Ireland when he is 35 years of age and plays every game for us, then plays another 90 minutes for his country - I am not so sure as a manager I would do that.

"I'm not criticising the manager of Northern Ireland (Michael O'Neill), that's his responsibility to do what he wants."

West Brom have won just once at home in the Premier League this season and Pulis is understandably expecting a tough test when Arsenal arrive at The Hawthorns, expecting them to sustain their title challenge.

"Arsenal are an absolutely wonderful football club. It's always been a very special club for me, as a lad who was born in the 1950s. They have a great opportunity this year of winning the title, they have a genuine chance," he said.