SPORTS

 

From ailing Alexis to fatigued Fabregas: Exhausting English football is harming the Premier League's superstars...  Two of the shining lights from the start of the season have noticeably dipped after the hectic Christmas period, so is it time for English football to have a serious rethink?                                                                                                                                                                   Spain has one. Italy too. Germany won the World Cup after theirs. It's a very different story in England, though, as we continue to toil away without a winter break.

While there is now little doubt that the national team are disadvantaged by an unbroken calendar, there is a growing realisation that the Premier League is also starting to suffer the effects of fatigue. When combined with the taxing nature of an extra month's football in Brazil for the World Cup in 2014, the relentless schedule in this country is now harming the quality of the league and the state of teams and players within it.

Thirty-eight intense top-flight games and two domestic cup competitions, as well as European commitments for a number of sides, makes English football more gruelling than anything else on the continent.