Gareth Southgate has confirmed that the FA have asked the Premier League not to schedule any matches between the ‘big-six’ clubs on the last weekend before the 2022 World Cup.
The World Cup in Qatar is due to take place between 21st November and the 18th December, and there are fears that players will suffer extreme fatigue thanks the football calendar becoming even more condensed and congested.
Southgate has on numerous occasions highlighted the problems this will cause for the players and recently admitted that he and the FA had requested that no match between either Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United or Tottenham be arranged for the weekend of the 12th November.
‘We have asked the Premier League to have a think about things, but we also understand that the fixture programme is very complicated,’ Southgate said ahead of England’s Nations League game with Hungary on Tuesday.
‘We’d have a preference for none of those big games but to be honest the difference it’s going to make is fairly marginal.
‘I think it’s manageable but the demands on the players are huge, and I think we are all conscious that we can’t keep adding to the calendar.
‘Due to the timing of the World Cup, we lose the October camp so everything’s condensed, competitions are added but nothing is taken out.
‘In the end I am sure players are gaining more of a voice in that and understandably so, and they should have a voice.’
While England are typically less reliant on ‘big-six’ players nowadays, the request is understandable given the number of key players that still play for those clubs.
Indeed, about half of the current Three Lions squad plays for the Premier League’s elite, and that doesn’t include the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho who will more than likely make the plane to Qatar.
Nevertheless, Southgate will remain content no matter the outcome although he admitted that there is only so much he can predict about which players will be tournament ready come their first group game against Iran.
He added: ‘How much control will we have over the players? None.
‘But information sharing is pretty good medically and we get the performance data from the Premier League, so you’ve got some markers.
‘In general, we have decent relationships with the clubs on that stuff but there’s always going to be a bit of an element of the unknown in that period.
‘But equally there’s always an understanding that clubs that have big games might not want to share certain things too early if they’ve got players that might miss games.’
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