Jose Mourinho believes players across England are being put at risk by the demands of turning out for games today, only two days after the full St Stephen's Day fixtures programme.
The Chelsea manager fears that more injuries will be sustained than usual because players have not had sufficient time to recover from their previous match.
While stressing he had no wish to interfere with English football traditions in his first season in the country and that he was not demanding change, Mourinho made plain his concerns ahead of his team's trip to Portsmouth this afternoon.
"I understand Boxing Day is important for your football culture," said the 41-year-old, who has had winter breaks when working in Portugal and Spain. "But to play on the 28th [ as well], I think if some players get injuries in the matches all over the country we have to think about it.
"You can speak not to me but with specialists of energetic systems and biochemistry and it's completely impossible [ for players to recover] from what they did. I can guess the next match will be very, very difficult."
With Celestine Babayaro, Robert Huth, Scott Parker and possibly William Gallas unavailable, Chelsea do not have a full squad but still enjoy far greater scope for rotation than most top flight clubs. Ricardo Carvalho is fit again if required.
Yet Mourinho's point was general rather than specific and the Premiership club with the least recovery time will be West Bromwich Albion. Their St Stephen's Day game against Liverpool finished at about 7.50 p.m. and they have a 3 p.m. start today at Manchester City. Liverpool's game against Southampton kicks off at 4.30 p.m.
"Maybe you will see a lot of goals," Mourinho said of today's fixtures, pointing to fatigue and suggesting that players will be pushed to breaking point.
A flood of Portsmouth goals seems unlikely, given Mourinho's side have kept 19 clean sheets in 28 games. Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech said the team were so enjoying themselves that playing today was not a problem and added he felt confident of winning when his team score first.
"We play with confidence and, if we are one goal up, I think for us it's enough," he said after Sunday's 1-0 victory over Aston Villa. "We can play our game and just wait for the possibility to kill the game and score another goal.
"I think the best point in a game is if you score and you know 1-0 should be okay. After, you play easier in your mind. You can keep the ball, keep playing and I think the key is just to score the first goal. Then you are in a great position to win."
