The coronavirus pandemic caused a major disruption to football leagues around the world.
In March, it forced football authorities to suspend the game, and the European leagues opened up around July for the completion of league seasons that had not been cancelled.
The 2020/2021 season started after just a few weeks break in September following the conclusion of the Champions League in August.
Players have had to play three games per week, and there is also international football that the governing bodies have refused to suspend for the year.
Trent Alexander-Arnold became injured for Liverpool recently and he has spoken about how the current fixture list makes no sense.
Players are asked to play weekend and midweek games, and he talked about Tottenham having to play a Thursday game and then playing at noon on Sunday again, something he thinks makes absolutely no sense at all.
Arnold said about the schedule, as quoted by the Standard.
“Not only has the calendar year been the strangest that anyone in football will have ever seen or been a part of, it is also the most intense which doesn’t make sense.
“At a time when we’ve had a three month lockdown, coming back and not being able to get fully fit as we would like to and having to play the remainder of the games, and then not getting much of a break – I think we got two weeks and then a ten day pre-season – and then straight back into the most competitive league in the world, it’s… difficult.
“The times of games, in terms of your last internationals coming back defies common sense really. Anyone with common sense would spot that that is something that cannot happen.
“The teams that play midweek most weeks – I think Tottenham had recently it where they played on the Thursday and then on Sunday at 12 o’clock. There is not enough time to recover, your body cannot recover that quickly. Your muscles are going into it not being 100 per cent and that is how you pick up injuries. Something has to change.
