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Who has the most and least gruelling December fixture list?

Story byMikel Arteta has guided Arsenal to a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League. []Dale Johnson - Football issues correspondentThu, December 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM UTC·7 min readMikel Arteta is not happy with Arsenal's festive fixture list - does his complaint have some merit?After the Gunners played Brentford on Wednesday evening, they must travel to Aston Villa on Saturday for a 12:30 GMT kick-off. It is a really quick turnaround. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementArteta believes the Villa fixture should have been scheduled for Sunday to provide additional rest. Unfortunately for Arteta, only teams who are away in Europe on a Wednesday night can opt out of that Saturday lunchtime TV slot, so his complaints will fall on deaf ears. December is notoriously busy for Premier League clubs, with a midweek round of matches, the festive programme, European fixtures and the Carabo Cup quarter-finals. So who has the most arduous run of fixtures in the five-week period through to the first weekend of January?1.

Mikel Arteta during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Brentford

Mikel Arteta during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Brentford

Credit: Yahoo

Key Highlights

  • Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace need results in the final two Conference League games to go directly through to the last 16 []December is hard enough on teams in the Conference League.
  • It is even worse if you do well in the EFL Cup, as Crystal Palace are about to discover. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe final two rounds of the Conference League are played on consecutive Thursdays with Palace away to Shelbourne on 11 December and at home to Finnish side KuPS seven days later. But this is only part of the story for Palace, fifth in the Premier League.
  • They face 11 games, six of them away, in the 36-day period between 30 November and 4 January.
  • Their longest rest period is five days, the worst schedule of all clubs. Palace have an EFL Cup quarter-final tie at Arsenal to play, a game originally scheduled for the midweek of the KuPS fixture. It has been pushed to Tuesday, 23 December and as part of the rejig, Palace's game with Leeds was brought forward 24 hours to Saturday, 20 December. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThey now must play KuPS and Leeds within 48 hours, before their cup tie with Arsenal. Over a gruelling five-week period, they will have played Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle.2.
  • ChelseaThe schedule is not quite so troubling for Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, but it is tough. Chelsea have 10 games to play, and six of them are away. Having lost at Leeds on Wednesday, they visit Bournemouth at 15:00 GMT this Saturday. Chelsea have a difficult away game in the Champions League too, facing Atalanta, next Tuesday. They do get a full week off between their visit to Newcastle on 20 December and a home game against Aston Villa on 27 December. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt also helps that they have two home matches after Christmas, against Villa and Bournemouth.
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Sources

  1. Who has the most and least gruelling December fixture list?

This quick summary is automatically generated using AI based on reports from multiple news sources. The content has not been reviewed or verified by humans. For complete details, accuracy, and context, please refer to the original published articles.

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