Fair enough, calling the Premier League fixture list `evil´ may be taking things a bit too far, but I still think that the Arsenal boss should have some sense of sympathy with his fellow Premier League boss Louis van Gaal, because I feel that the Man United boss is right to say that the lack of a winter break in England is not good for Arsenal or any other Premier League club.
It is not good for the England national team either and I can understand why the Frenchman is not too fussed about that, although maybe he should be now that Arsenal are usually the mainstay of the three lions with the likes of Walcott, Wilshere, Welbeck and the Ox.
As reported by The Mirror, Wenger took the chance in his pre match press conference to disagree with the Dutchman and explain that he loves the busy festive period, insisting that it is one of the things that makes the Premier League such a global commodity, when the leagues around Europe have shut down but everyone is on holiday.
The Frenchman said, “I have a lot of respect for Louis van Gaal but I don’t agree with him on that.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve been in England for such a long time. I had his ideas when I arrived here but today I would cry if you changed that because it’s part of English tradition and English football.
“To suppress the game on Boxing Day… The whole of Europe comes to England to watch the game. It’s a very important part of us being popular in the world, that nobody works at Christmas and everybody watches the Premier League.”
Fair enough but the fact that the players from all the other leagues in Europe have had a nice rest cannot be helping the English clubs in the knockout stage of the Champions League and our problems in Europe and with the UEFA coefficient have been the talk of the football media for a few years now.
The lack of a break also increases the chance of our players getting an injury, so although we all love the christmas football period, would it not make sense for us to have a break at some point?