It's time for fans to tuck into their traditional festive feast of football

ANY European countries have a two-week break at Christmas/ New Year while here in the UK we have a traditionally packed fixture list that sees teams in the championship playing four games in nine days while teams in the Premier League play three games in seven days.

- TOM ROSS

The Christmas and New Year period is considered to be defining for those teams involved in chasing European qualification, promotion or fighting relegation.

I have always loved the traditional festive feast of football, especially the Boxing Day games that always draw big crowds.

I am sure managers and coaches will argue that there are too many games crammed into a short space of time that creates problems.

Little time to recover energy wise and from injuries and knocks and of course preparing game plans for each team you will face, not forgetting travelling time.

Also, the risk of injuries is greater with so many games in such a short space of time.

Yes but, I hear you shouting, they have larger squads to cope with these situations while most managers would argue that you want your most inform and influential players not only in the team but at peak of fitness with the highest energy levels.

The results at the end of the Christmas period usually tell us a lot about the prospects for the rest of the season at both ends of the table.

Interestingly, I remember back-toback games being played on Christmas Day and Boxing Day or games played on Boxing Day with the return fixture the next day on December 27 - usually with lots of goals. Of course, fitness levels and energy demands are greater in today’s games.

The bad news for Wolves is that only three teams who were bottom at Christmas have escaped relegation in the last 33 years and none of them had such a huge gap in points to overcome.

At the other end of the table, ominous signs for leaders Arsenal. Four times in PL history, Manchester City have overtaken the team who were top at Christmas to win the title.