The round of Premier League fixtures that come between Boxing Day and New Year will be scrapped for the 2022/2023 season in a bid to protect player fitness after the 2022 Qatar World Cup, according to an exclusive report from the Telegraph .
It means that Newcastle United players returning from the winter World Cup in the Middle East will have the best part of a weeks rest between the fixtures on Monday, December 26 - the first fixtures after the World Cup finishes on December 18 - and the final games of the year on New Year’s Eve, which falls on a Saturday.
The changes are expected to be confirmed on Thursday morning when the full fixture list for the upcoming season is released.
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The decision to remove the traditional festive fixture list is the latest in a set of unprecedented changes to domestic football as the world prepares for its first ever winter tournament. Midweek fixtures after the turn of the year will remain, dropping the usual four-game squeeze into three for the upcoming campaign.
There has been great concern for player welfare over the last few seasons, previously over covid-related fixture congestion and now over the changing and condensing of schedules ahead of the controversial major finals in Qatar. Gareth Southgate has spoken regularly about worries for the welfare of his players, who have played four games for the England national side since the Premier League season finished on May 22.
One of those was full-back Kieran Trippier, who played the full 90 minutes twice for the Three Lions despite having played just 113 minutes for his club since returning from a fractured metatarsal. The 31-year-old was one of six Newcastle players shipped off on international duty so soon after the end of the season - Chris Wood, Fabian Schar, Miguel Almiron, Fabian Schar and Bruno Guimaraes being the other five.
The Magpies had an enforced break during the festive period last season, with games against Everton and Southampton postponed due to covid reasons - they drew 0-0 with Liverpool the year before that and haven't won a fixture in that slot since they were promoted back into the Premier League in 2017.
Southgate and the FA have also requested that the Premier League ensure no clashes between the traditional ‘big-six’ are organised during the final week before they break up for the tournament in November, adding that it could increase the risk of injury to key players.
The fixture list for Newcastle’s 2022/2023 Premier League campaign will be released tomorrow (Thursday, June 16) at 9 AM.
