When European football takes a break, England has a feast of matches sprinkled between Christmas and New Yearan overloaded period in which dreams of trophies and risks of indigestion intersect for the heavyweights of the Premier League.
From Newcastle-Chelsea for the first category of English football this Saturday to Liverpool-Barnsley for the English Cup on January 12, the ball will stop just six days out of twenty-four: December 24, 25, 29 and 31 and January 2 and 5.
There will be no games on those days, but this will not mean that the players rest. According to The Sun, The Arsenal squad is scheduled to train on Christmas morningso as not to lose the rhythm. The period will be especially delicate for the current Premier League leader and already puts its coach, Mikel Arteta, at a crossroads between the health of the players and sporting ambitions.
In 23 days, from December 20 to January 11, his Gunners will face seven games, almost one every three days: two in the Cup and five in the Premier, with duels against Aston Villa and Liverpool before and after the New Year.
This dizzying succession comes at a bad time for Arsenal. He has several injuries (Gabriel Magalhães, Cristhian Mosquera, Kai Havertz) and his latest performances certainly do not invite optimism. Even so, Arteta makes a virtue of necessity as he enters the period of “festive fixtures,” as they are called in England.
“It demands a lot from you, but I see it as an opportunity. I think we are lucky to be able to play while people are on vacation; many families can enjoy it. The atmosphere in the stadium is unique and we have to take advantage of that,” he declared this Friday.
Starting this weekend, Arsenal (36 points) will have a lot of work to defend their leadership. It will begin with a visit this Saturday night to Everton, a few hours after the game in which their first pursuer, Manchester City (34), plays at home against West Ham United. In this critical period, the London team can at least be glad of not having any players affected by the African Cup (December 21 to January 18), unlike other English clubs.
A lackluster Boxing Day
Manchester Unitedfor example, loses three potential starters in Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui. The same goes for Burnley (Tuanzebe, Foster, Mejbri) and Fulham (Iwobi, Chukwueze y Bassey). Sunderland is the most affected clubsince six internationals left for Morocco, host of the African tournament, among them, Congolese midfielder Noah Sadiki and Mozambican defender Reinildo Mandava. It will be a tall challenge for French technical director Régis Le Bris, the man who is working miracles with the Black Cats. The newly promoted team and 8th in the Premier will open the English winter sprint this Saturday at the home of Brighton & Hove, a direct rival for qualification for one of the European continental competitions.
In addition to the national cups, there will be 40 Premier League matches in just 16 days. In the midst of the frenetic agenda, an anomaly: there will be only one match on Boxing Daysince traditionally all teams play on December 26. The English league has preferred to schedule seven matches for the next day, Saturday, and the last two for Sunday, mainly to accommodate television preferences.
The only Boxing Day duel, between Manchester United and Newcastle, will begin at 8 p.m. (local time), certainly not a gift for visiting fans.
AFP
