20 January 2024 , 06:30
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Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping that Chelsea’s weekend off can act as a reset for his team as they continue to search for consistency.
The Blues are back to work on the training ground after a couple of days off, with Pochettino saying last weekend that he was going on a quick trip to Spain, as their turn to enjoy the Premier League ’s second ever winter break rolls around.
But their rest period is not as long as most top flight sides because of Tuesday’s EFL Cup semi-final second leg against Middlesbrough at Stamford Bridge.
In total they will have had 10 days between games, compared to Bournemouth and Sheffield United enjoying 15 days.
This is the second year that the Premier League is having an enforced break - spreading 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 on Saturday lunchtime and ending with Brighton against Wolves on Monday night.
The five other games were spread across last weekend - including Chelsea ’s meeting with Fulham. And there will not be a single 3pm Saturday Premier League game across January as a result of the break.
Chelsea were 1-0 winners over Fulham on January 13 (Nigel Keene/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)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.
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.”