Who has the most and least gruelling December among Premier League teams?

Who has the most and least gruelling December among Premier League teams?

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Does Mikel Arteta’s complaint about Arsenal’s festive fixture list have any merit?

The Gunners must travel to Aston Villa on Saturday for a 12:30 GMT kick-off after playing Brentford on Wednesday night. The turnaround is very quick.

According to Arteta, Sunday should have been the Villa game’s scheduled day for additional rest.

Unfortunately for Arteta, only teams that are away in Europe on Wednesday night can resign from that Saturday lunchtime TV slot, so his complaints won’t be heard.

Premier League clubs are notoriously busy in December, with midweek matches, a festive schedule, European competitions, and the Carabo Cup quarter-finals.

1. Crystal Palace

Oliver Glasner of Crystal Palace during the Conference League match at Strasbourg Images courtesy of Getty
Teams in the Conference League have to deal with it every December. As Crystal Palace will soon learn, it is even worse if you perform well in the EFL Cup.

The Conference League’s final two games are played on consecutive Thursdays, with Palace traveling to Shelbourne on December 11 and visiting Finnish side KuPS on December 11.

Palace, which is fifth in the Premier League, only has one more story to tell. In the 36-day period from November 30 to January 4, they will face 11 games, six of which will be away. The worst schedule of all clubs is their five-day break, which is their longest break possible.

Palace will face Arsenal in the EFL Cup quarter-final, which was originally scheduled for midweek.

The game between Palace and Leeds was moved from Tuesday, December 23 to Tuesday, December 23, and Palace moved ahead as part of the reshuffle by 24 hours to Saturday, December 20.

Within 48 hours of their cup match with Arsenal, they must now face Leeds and KuPS.

2. Chelsea

Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca is less troubling by the schedule than he is by far.

Six of Chelsea’s ten games are away, total.

They travel to Bournemouth on Saturday at 15:00 GMT after losing at Leeds on Wednesday.

Next Tuesday will be Chelsea’s first Champions League home game against Atalanta.

Between their 20-day visit to Newcastle on December 20 and their home game against Aston Villa on December 27, they do get a full week off.

3. United of Newcastle

Newcastle United also has ten games away from home and five away.

Next Wednesday, their Champions League away match against Bayer Leverkusen in Germany will make things even more difficult. Before making the short trip to Sunderland in the Premier League on Sunday, December 14, they do get an extra day’s rest.

Other than Palace, Newcastle are the only team that has a partial week off at some point during this time.

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4. Arsenal

Five at home and five away are also equal for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

Both Arsenal and Aston Villa, who host them on Saturday, played on Wednesday night and will travel to Europe the following week. Villa visits FC Basel while the Gunners are at Club Brugge.

Next week’s games will also feature Arsenal and Wolves, but on Saturday at 20:00 GMT, they will face them.

Arsenal avoids the midweek of December 15 with the rescheduled EFL Cup quarter-final match instead of the one that precedes Christmas.

5. City of Manchester

Five of Pep Guardiola’s team’s games are away and five in the road.

City travels to Real Madrid on Wednesday for the challenging Champions League match, but unlike Newcastle, they won’t start playing in the Premier League until Palace visit on Sunday.

Brentford hosts their EFL Cup match at home.

6. Forest of Nottingham

With five away, Nottingham Forest has nine games.

On Thursday, December 11, FC Utrecht will play in the Europa League in the Netherlands. On top of that, Tottenham will host a home game on Sunday.

7. Liverpool

Liverpool have five away games from nine games under Arne Slot.

A home game against Brighton on the following Saturday will follow trips to Leeds on Saturday and Inter Milan on Tuesday.

8. Villa atston

Five of Aston Villa’s nine games are away.

A quick turnaround following Christmas, with challenging games at home against Arsenal and at Chelsea, is the real negative.

9. Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham will be the only English club to travel to Europe next week, which oddly happens on the fixture list.

Spurs will enjoy the winless Slavia Prague game at home.

10. Fulham and Brentford

The two non-European clubs Brentford and Fulham both have commitments to the EFL Cup.

12. Brighton, Everton, and Wolves are just a few cities away.

Due to the Premier League’s absence, fixture congestion is unimportant for the remaining nine clubs.

16. Lauderdales

Between two Christmas away games, Leeds has an extra day between Sunderland and Liverpool.

17. Norway

Sunderland have a good game schedule, starting on December 28 with a trip to Manchester City on January 1 with a four-day home game against Leeds on December 28.

18. West Ham’s Burnley

Although they are home fixtures, Burnley and West Ham each have a three-day break between games.

20. Manchester United

The ideal December for Manchester United appears to have arrived in theory.

They play Friday, Tuesday, and Sunday after next Monday, twice in 18 days, and after Christmas, they play Sunday.

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Source: BBC

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