Ole Gunnar Solskjaer talks to his players in Dubai during a training camp.

What will United's winter break look like?

Wednesday 12 June 2019 13:48

The Premier League has introduced a historic first winter break for the forthcoming season, which will take place in February 2020.

Following the release of the fixture list, we know that United will play Wolves at home – provisionally on 1 February – before the break takes place.

The Reds will then take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, in a reversal of 2019/20's opening fixture. The clash in the capital will be staged either on the weekend of 8 or 15 February, with the spare weekend allowing the club a space in our schedule. The exact dates will be finalised around 14 December, when adjustments to that period are announced due to television coverage.

Nemanja Matic beats Ross Barkley in last season's Premier League clash at Chelsea.

All five matches on each of those February weekends will be broadcast live in the UK, as part of the new television package.

The idea is for the round of fixtures to be spread across a fortnight to enable clubs to take a break from the action, akin to other leagues across Europe, in a bid to aid the England national team and English clubs in Europe, even if Premier League teams contested both the Champions League and Europa League finals last term.

The Football Association confirmed when announcing the plan that the February break would be structured to ensure that fans still get their fix of football over this period.

"Each weekend during the break will feature five Premier League games on the first weekend and five on the following weekend," they stated on their official website.

"To incorporate this, the FA has agreed to move the Emirates FA Cup fifth-round matches to midweek. In addition, from the start of the 2019/20 season, fifth-round replays will be removed from the calendar, being replaced with extra-time and penalties in the first tie."

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