West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce on Thursday criticised Senegal over their behaviour with regard to his club's players Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate.

Sakho was ruled out of the Africa Cup of Nations with a back injury, but made a scoring appearance as a substitute for West Ham in the FA Cup last weekend, prompting questions from Senegal coach Alain Giresse.

Meanwhile, Allardyce has been frustrated that West Ham have been unable to contact midfielder Kouyate to discuss his return to England following Senegal's group-stage elimination in Equatorial Guinea.

Allardyce played down suggestions Sakho could face a ban for missing the tournament, telling a press conference: "I'm not worried at all he could be facing a ban whatsoever.

"We've stuck to every rule and regulation in the book by the FA, by FIFA and by UEFA. We have not breached any rules and regulations whatsoever and I have to say I'm extremely disappointed by Senegal's reaction.

"He (Sakho) is coping fine because he has got enough to burn his bridges with. They (Senegal) are falling out with us.

"If anything we should be falling out with them, but we are not. We are keeping it at a very professional level, like we always do and like I said, we have done everything in the rules to comply with what is happening."

Sakho is West Ham's top scorer and Allardyce revealed after last Saturday's 1-0 win at Bristol City that the 25-year-old striker had travelled to the game by limousine, rather than flying with the rest of the squad, in order to avoid aggravating his back problem.

On Kouyate, Allardyce said: "The other player that we had available has been difficult to find over the last 48 hours.

"We know where he is, but we have had trouble finding him. If you speak to other managers in the Premier League, if they are honest like I am, they will tell you the same story.

"We are expecting him back today (Thursday) after chasing him down for the last 48 hours. He could play against Liverpool (on Saturday)."