Premier League Preview: How the Festive Fixture Pile-Up Could Shape Title Race

Given the ink was still drying on the season’s festive fixture list when Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp started moaning about it, it’s tempting to conclude maybe he’s a just a little wistful over what he has left behind.

Who wouldn’t be? While the biggest conundrum facing his one-time Bundesliga counterparts over the month-long winter break in Germany is which hoppy delight to fill bounteous stein glasses with, Klopp must weigh up how to ensure his players come through a run of three matches in seven days unscathed, including two in less than 46 hours.

In a compressed piece of Christmas scheduling, his players have just four days to rest between three games, the second-fewest of any Premier League club. Only Southampton are worse off in terms of recovery time, with Claude Puel’s side afforded just three days respite. Safe to say the Saints are unlikely to be marching in this Christmas; they’ll be lucky if they can manage a crawl.

A nice piece of investigative work by StatsBomb’s James Yorke has unearthed four-day discrepancies in the time Premier League clubs have been allocated to rest in between the three fixtures each will play over the festive period—starting on Boxing Day and running through until January 4.

While Klopp probably thinks Bad Santa must have compiled the forthcoming fixture pile-up, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte will look at his own side’s schedule and be more pleased with himself than a John Lewis Christmas ad.

Lots of interest for this Christmas schedule and the weird differences in break lengths (Chelsea fans happy, Liverpool/Saints fans not) pic.twitter.com/XixTHYjh9w

— James Yorke (@jair1970) December 19, 2016

It has been reported the exuberant Italian pushed Buster the Boxer off that bloody trampoline to have a go himself after learning his players would have a total of seven days rest between matches against Bournemouth, Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur.

As Chelsea head into the busiest period of the season with a six-point advantage over Liverpool at the Premier League summit, courtesy of an 11-game winning run since switching to a 3-4-3 formation, the last thing any of their rivals would have wanted was to see them given a fixture list gift-wrapped, replete with a big blue bow. 

The table-toppers welcome Bournemouth to Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day, before being granted four days off prior to the visit of Stoke City on New Year’s Eve. It’s then another three days on the couch, which—when taking into consideration ITV’s ad breaks—should be just about enough time to get to the end of The Great Escape, before they make the short trip across the capital to play Tottenham.

Conte will have put in more miles this year buying his Christmas presents than his side will travelling for the next three games. Not having to leave the radius of your own farts over the festive period surely has to be significantly advantageous. Figuratively, that is.

While there has been no murmuring of foul play, and rightly so given the quirks of the English fixture list predate Adam being tempted by Eve on a Premier League rest day, it appears Chelsea have been fortuitous with how their matches are spaced out.

Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United join Liverpool in only having a day between their second and third matches, with Tottenham granted two. Chelsea have three.

It’s a bit like telling your kids you love them both the same, before buying one a Ferrari Testarossa and the other a Ferrero Rocher.

Given consistency in selection has been key in Chelsea’s run of 11 victories on the bounce, that Conte should probably not have to make tweaks to his starting XI is a huge bonus. No Premier League manager has made fewer changes than the Italian this season, and it seem unlikely fatigue will be a problem between now and January 4 either.

20 – @ChelseaFC have used fewer players than any other team in the Premier League so far in 2016-17 (20). Consistency.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 22, 2016

If Klopp were to name the same side for Liverpool’s games against Manchester City and Sunderland, he would be accused of being reckless. Which, in fairness to the German, seems somewhat odd.

In October, via the Guardian, he insisted his bah-humbug Scrooge routine was solely due to concern over his players’ welfare and not born from cultural differences between English and German football. 

Though he argued there are definite gremlins in the system when holding court on the issue: “I understand tradition—I would never say Boxing Day is not a good idea as I love it and I have absolutely no problem. But now having a matchday with two days between, there should be another possibility.”

Here are the last two seasons of PL Christmas schedules, last year had a small stagger, 14-15 barely any at all, no long term bias detected: pic.twitter.com/spm1RMPP6c

— James Yorke (@jair1970) December 19, 2016

As Klopp is probably well aware, the first-ever football match between two separate clubs took place on Boxing Day. Hallam FC lost 2-0 to Sheffield FC on December 26, 1860.

If it is any consolation, Jurgen, I’d rather be watching It’s a Wonderful Life, too.

Television demands mean Liverpool’s game against Manchester City at Anfield on New Year’s Eve—arguably the pick of the festive football—has been moved to a 5:30 p.m. kick-off. They travel to the north-east to play Sunderland on January 2 just 45-and-a-half hours later.

Klopp’s ire is exacerbated by Liverpool playing Stoke City on December 27—as opposed to Boxing Day—meaning they have a day fewer to prepare for the big one against Manchester City than their opponents.

The Reds manager reiterated his concern about the strain such demands put on players when interviewed on Saturday’s Football Focus (h/t Eurosport):

December 27, 31, no problem, that’s completely OK and a normal rhythm. But then to play again on the second [of January] makes no sense.

I am a football fan, I would like to watch football everyday but if you do it, after four weeks, you cannot do it any more. The only thing is you have to accept the problems you cause …

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