Allardyce could be without nine players for the trip to Watford, including, Kevin Davies, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo, El-Hadji Diouf, Abdoulaye Faye, Radhi Jaidi, Gary Speed, Nicky Hunt and Khalilou Fadiga.
One bonus for Allardyce is that Jay-Jay Okocha has been given special dispensation by the Nigerian FA to play in the cup game before joining the national squad in Egypt.
Allardyce said: "We have to thank the Nigerians for allowing Jay-Jay to play before he goes to their camp.
"Without Jay-Jay we would really be in big, big trouble for this cup game.
"It looks as though we are going to have to take some lads out of the Academy and put them on the bench.
"We will have to make a number of changes with some players playing out of position. It will be a great experience for them.
"It will be a team that is put out in hope rather than in the knowledge they can get us a result."