#fixture-congestion

#fixture-congestion

I'm happy to have this team, but I'm a little concerned about the noises I hear around the team and the individual prizes given to players, because football is a team sport. You have to be ready to work as a team, prizes don't interest me. It's different because there's a lot of recognition [this season]. I don't want to talk about the past, but about the future. Fewer prizes and more concentration, that's what we want.

It's going to be a really good game. I think it's going to be competitive and there's an edge between both teams after our competition last year. They're very much similar to how they played last year, a similar shape and they've made a few improvements and some shrewd signings. They've done really well. We know Charlton are going to be very competitive in terms of the way they play, similar to the Portsmouth game in many respects, but we're prepared for that.

A record-breaking nine English sides will play European football in 2025-26 - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle and Tottenham in the Champions League; Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest in the Europa League; and Crystal Palace in the Conference League. But will those clubs who are not in Europe be able to capitalise on having a less hectic fixture schedule and more rest between matches? When Leicester City shocked the footballing world to win the Premier League in 2015-16, they only played 43 games in all competitions, with no European distractions.