Swedish midfielder Rami Al Hajj will get time to spend with his family despite the Plymouth Argyle's busy schedule of matches over Christmas and New Year.

His parents have travelled from their home in Sweden to be with him and watch some games as he gets his first experience of English football over the festive period. It is going to be very different from when he was with his former club, OB, in Denmark when they did not play for around a month last December.

After his summer switch to Argyle, Al Hajj and his team-mates are faced with the prospect of five games in 15 days, starting against Middlesbrough at Home Park tomorrow.

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Al Hajj said: "I'm looking forward to it a lot. It's a festive period but football is taking up most of our focus. It's something new for me but I have got my parents over here so they will be watching some of the games and we will celebrate that time together. They have come over from Falkenberg, my home city. They have been here before but it's going to be nice to celebrate Christmas."

After playing Middlesbrough, the Pilgrims will be away to Coventry City on Boxing Day and Oxford United on December 29 before hosting Bristol City on New Year's Day. The hectic period will end with a trip to Stoke City on January 4, and with so many matches in a short space of time it offers 23rd-placed Argyle the opportunity to considerably improve their league position.

Al Hajj said: "Denmark was the opposite. The last game was, I think, December 3 and then we were off for about month so it's a big difference. It can switch a lot with that many games in a short period so we have to be ready for everything."

After previously playing his club football with Heerenveen in the Netherlands, as well as Denmark, the 23-year-old midfielder has had to adjust to life in England and the Championship and he recently had a spell out of the team.

However, he returned to the starting line-up for the away game against Championship leaders Sheffield United and his performance was one of the positives to come out of the 2-0 defeat, a result which was not indicative of how well the Pilgrims played.

Al Hajj said: "It was a good feeling to be back in the team. In the time when you are not in the team you work and train to come back and have an impact. I felt I had a good game, and the whole team had a good performance. It was positive except the score."

One recent change has been the arrival of Mike Phelan as Argyle's new assistant head coach and Al Hajj believes he has already made his mark. "I think he has had a lot of impact in this short period with his experience and his eye for detail," he said. "When we analyse the games and training, with his experience he sees things different and he helps with that a lot."

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