20 January 2024 , 05:30
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Manchester United are enjoying a weekend off - but Erik ten Hag has not taken his squad to any warm weather training camp.
While Arsenal flew to Dubai and United spent a week in Spain during last season’s World Cup, they have decided to remain in Carrington for the second January winter break in Premier League history.
“Now is totally different,” Ten Hag said last week, with United having a full fortnight between games - which is not far off the longest break of 15 days afforded to Bournemouth and Sheffield United.
Having played eight times in December, United will just have three fixtures this month and two of those will have been FA Cup games. And there will not be a single 3pm Saturday Premier League game across January as a result of the break.
The Premier League has spread matchweek 21 across two weekends to ensure fans are not entirely starved of action while teams get to recuperate following the hectic Christmas schedule.
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All five games this weekend will be televised, starting with Arsenal against Crystal Palace at lunchtime today and ending with Brighton against Wolves on Monday night.
The five other games were spread across last weekend - including United’s 2-2 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
The break was first introduced in January 2020 - but scrapped from then until now on account of the Covid-19 pandemic and last year’s World Cup - and is intended to balance out the hectic Christmas schedule.
United drew 2-2 with Tottenham on January 14 (Paul Currie/REX/Shutterstock)However it remains unpopular with some managers, including Everton ’s Sean Dyche. The Toffees boss believes it is better to have a more even spread of fixtures - and it is of greater benefit to the big clubs.
“For me, I don’t see the point of it when you’ve just had as many games in December. It’s not that beneficial,” he said.
“It would be better to lose one or two of these games [in December] and put them in there to spread it out. I think that’s a better scenario. With more games, the big clubs with big squads are bound to gain because of their big squads.
“But when you haven’t got a big squad like us and you get injuries, you’re bound to be stretched. If you put a couple of games in that break then it is more level across the season. I’ll be surprised if that break doesn’t disappear, just from the scheduling.”
Everton were one of seven Premier League clubs to have their breaks cut because of FA Cup replays.
After Liverpool ’s win against Arsenal, Jurgen Klopp said it was “the biggest bonus ever” to not have an extra game. But Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson admitted their replay with Everton was “the last thing either of us wanted” and Brentford boss Thomas Frank said having to face Wolves again was “the worst outcome in every aspect.”