Why there are no 3pm Premier League kick-offs on Saturday as Man Utd, Man City & Chelsea are given a weekend off - explained

Saturday afternoon at 3 pm is the traditional home of football in England, but not a single Premier League match will begin at that time today. Arsenal and Crystal Palace will kick off in the lunchtime slot, while Brentford host Nottingham Forest at 5.30 pm. There are also games between Sheffield United and West Ham United at 2 pm on Sunday, followed by Bournemouth vs Liverpool at 4.30 pm. Beyond those four matches involving the eight teams mentioned, no others are scheduled this weekend and 12 sides are not playing at all - that includes leaders the two Manchester giants and Chelsea.

The Premier League has adopted a winter break in recent years as a way of reducing the physical demands on players during what is typically a busy time of year. But, different to the top European leagues, who tend to pause completely over Christmas and New Year, the Premier League takes a break in January and also staggers it by splitting gameweek 21 over two weeks. That means, that while certain teams are off, others continue playing and vice versa, so the overall competition never actually has a noticeable stop and start.

After years of debate about player fatigue, Premier League clubs voted in favour of a winter break in 2018 and it came into effect for the first time during the 2019-20 season. The big hope for the FA was that introducing a chance to rest mid-season would have the added bonus of boosting England performances at summer tournaments. UEFA had even published a study in 2013 revealing that a player was four times more likely to get injured in the final three months of a Premier League season than those in other European leagues in the same period.

Brighton's home clash with Wolves at 7:45 pm on Monday will be the final game of matchweek 21. The FA Cup fourth round is scheduled for the weekend after, but things will get back to normal in the Premier League with a full programme of midweek fixtures for all 20 clubs played between January 30 and February 1.