Everton’s Dyche calls for winter break to be scrapped to help players

Sean Dyche has said scrapping the winter break and staging fewer games in December would reduce the demands on players as well as the competitive advantage richer clubs enjoy.

Everton played eight games in 29 days in December but have three matches in 27 days this month, starting with Thursday’s FA Cup third-round tie at Crystal Palace. Dyche will give his squad several days off after the trip to Selhurst Park, although Everton’s winter break is after the Premier League game against Aston Villa on 14 January.

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The manager says the recent schedule, injuries and suspensions took a toll in Saturday’s poor 3-0 defeat at Wolves. He also believes the schedule favours wealthier clubs with bigger squads, and distributing fixtures more evenly throughout December and January would benefit the Premier League and players’ welfare.

“We have a break this weekend but that’s just because of the Palace game [being played],” Dyche said. “After the Villa game is the actual winter break. I don’t see the point of it when you’ve just had so many games in December. It’s not that beneficial. It would be better to lose one or two of these games in December and put them in there to spread it out. That’s a better scenario.

“It’s a more level playing field then. With more games, the big clubs are bound to gain because of their big squads. But when you haven’t got a big squad, like us, and you get injuries, you’re bound to be stretched. If you put a couple of games in that break then it is more level across the season. I’ll be surprised if that break doesn’t disappear, just from the scheduling.”

Dyche has echoed the view of Everton’s director of football, Kevin Thelwell, that this will be a quiet transfer window for a club in the midst of a proposed takeover by 777 Partners. Everton’s financial problems could make them vulnerable to a big money offer for a player such as Jarrad Branthwaite or Amadou Onana, though Dyche would be reluctant to break up a team fighting to avoid relegation.

“That would be down to the powers that be,” he said. “They will make the decisions, inevitably. They will ask my advice, I’m sure, and it’s fair to say we’ve got a more rounded squad that, apart from the obvious 10-point situation, has performed better and is showing signs of progress.

“You don’t really want to start taking that to pieces, and certainly not midway through a season, but the club might view it differently. We’ll have to wait and see.”