Premier League clubs now have their first winter break in February but how does it work.
The new break has been brought in by the Premier League to give clubs 13 days off in between games after the busy festive calendar. But it has been structured so eight Premier League teams are in action on one weekend and the other twelve play on the following weekend so not to inconvenience broadcasters and armchair fans.
This means the Premier League break will work differently to many top European leagues, which completely shut down in their break.
Not every team will have 13 days off as planned. The reason for that is the placement of the FA Cup fourth-round replays, which involve Liverpool, Spurs, Southampton and Newcastle. Naturally, players for those sides haven’t been best pleased with how the schedule has worked out.
West Ham’s last game against Brighton was on the 1st February and as it stands they don’t have another game scheduled until Monday 24th February against Liverpool giving them a full 22 days between the two games although there is a strong possibility they may be required to re-schedule their Manchester City game on Wednesday 19th February cutting down the time between the two games to 17 days.