The hectic winter period is coming up in the Premier League and that means a whole lot of football.
As good as that is for fans, it does mean a huge amount of physical workload for players and injury risk is heightened.
That’s why last season a winter break in January was introduced to give teams extra time to safely recover and rest.
However, things have now changed again, with the top-flight moving on from their plan already…
Is there a winter break this season?
There will be no break in the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.
Last season, the winter break saw five matches played on the weekend of January 13 and the other five on January 20.
It allowed teams to have some time off during a busy schedule while also keeping top-flight action going at the same time.
But the break won’t be happening this year after it was removed.
It was scrapped to allow a longer summer break before getting the season started following Euro 2024 and Copa America instead.
A statement from the FA in April read: “The mid-season break is removed from the calendar to allow a mid-August start date for the Premier League.
“This longer summer break allows all Premier League clubs to be better able to ensure that players get a consecutive three-week break in the summer.
“This takes into account expert advice from medical and technical departments, which values a longer period of complete rest in the summer rather than a short break in the winter.”
It means there will be no time off for teams during the usually hectic Christmas and New Year schedule.
However, despite there being no break, fixtures have been spread out to help players have enough recovery time.
In December and January, no club will play within 60 hours of another match to provide a longer period of recovery.
As previously mentioned, last season saw all 20 teams play over the winter but in staggered gameweeks.
Ten would play on one weekend and then the other ten a week later.
Last campaign’s break was the first since the 2019/20 season, with strange scheduling preventing it before that.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the following season, and then the 2022 World Cup starting in November disrupted the usual plan.
Arsenal enjoyed the winter break in 2023/24, winning eight straight Premier League games over the period.
Mikel Arteta praised the impact of having some extra rest, but he won’t be getting it this time around.
And that could be a big issue for his Gunners side, who have already been ravaged by injuries this campaign.
It will be the same for Manchester City too, with their unlucky injury record clearly impacting their success so far.
Liverpool on the other hand, will be delighted that they won’t be stopping, as they will want their momentum to keep going.
