Hi nick
Big Bang sceptics always call things like inflation, dark matter and so on, 'epicycles' - but to have an infinite universe in space and time they have to make wild postulations to avoid Olber's Paradox, invoking unknown physics to counteract the consequences of infinite age. The classic example is the C-field in Steady State theory which, ironically, is a lot like the inflaton field and dark energy together.
Epicycles to avoid epicycles? The Big Bang is a natural outcome of GR so why fix what isn't broken??