Arsène Wenger is well aware of the strain on his squad over the next couple of months but he is NOT in favour of a winter break.
The Arsenal manager left Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb back in London when the Club left for tonightÂ’s Champions League tie at Slavia Prague. Wenger knows his side only need a point to qualify from Group H and yet, after the international break, they face a spell of 13 games in six weeks.
It is a hectic timetable in which Arsenal will be fighting for trophies on four fronts. But despite that, Wenger would not want to follow the Continental model of a winter recess.
“At the moment there is still a reasonable break in the summer,” said the Frenchman. “So I feel that is better than getting to a solution where you have no break in the winter and no break in the summer.
“Let’s not be stupid. We cannot go down to 18 teams in the Premier League. You do not have less games than before, you always have more.
“I certainly think we [at Arsenal] have a big enough squad to give the players a rest when it is needed. For example, I like to keep stability in the team but when it is needed to take one or two players out.
“[Anyway] if you want to ask the players to make a winter break it needs to be two months, because you need to give them three weeks off.
“If it is one week off I don’t think anything changes apart from the mental refreshment. Physically I don’t think there would be a big amount of efficiency.”