By Martin Keown
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One of the footballing cliches you hear most these days is that the table will take shape after the Christmas period. But it really starts earlier than that, and I expect the top teams to excel this weekend.
For most of the season so far, Premier League games have come once a week, often broken up by the Champions League and Europa League.
While most of the teams in the division have regularly had six or seven days off between games, the Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle have been regularly playing midweek matches, travelling all over Europe.
Yule be sorry: Clubs in Europe are on a more even keel during the winter
Teams such as West Brom, Norwich, Swansea and Fulham — who have impressed in the opening part of the season — have been helped by having plenty of time on the training pitch in midweek.
It means they are well prepared and rested when it comes to the weekend league games. In contrast, teams in Europe barely have time to unpack their suitcases before they turn up to face these fresh teams in the domestic competition.
For example, between September 23 and November 17, Norwich played 10 games in all competitions. Manchester United and Manchester City each played three more. It takes its toll and a look at Newcastle's injury list shows that, too.
Given a break: Norwich are one of the teams who have benefited from more time on the training field
This week and throughout the Christmas period, though, the balance will be redressed. Teams play their third Premier League game in a week this weekend, and the 34-day period between November 25 and December 29 sees eight Premier League rounds.
The previous eight were spread out over 55 days. So for the first time in the season, the bigger sides are on an even keel preparation-wise with the rest of the league.
The teams playing in Europe are used to playing every few days and have the squads to cope with the games coming thick and fast. It won't faze teams such as Manchester United to be playing again, and they will probably relish concentrating on one competition over the coming weeks.
Teams who are used to seven days' preparation might struggle. Was West Brom's defeat at Swansea an early sign of that?
Expect the teams involved in Europe to start making their mark — it's the reason the cliche about the table taking shape exists.
Lambert's logic is bent
I can understand why Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has been picking Christian Benteke ahead of Darren Bent. The Belgian is a fantastic talent and is scoring goals.
But I cannot understand why Bent is not even on the bench. Villa deny he has been dropped to avoid paying another instalment of the 24m transfer fee to Sunderland, so there must have been a falling-out.
Puzzling: Paul Lambert refuses to put Darren Bent on the bench
Bent has scored goals every season of his career and he deserves respect. It is up to Lambert to get the most out of his best players and Villa aren't good enough to just discard a 24m striker. Most Premier League clubs would love to have him.
If Lambert is not happy with Bent's attitude, he has to resolve the problem. What happens if Benteke gets injured? Bent is too talented to be left out.
The sooner that the issue is resolved, the better for all concerned, as Villa are far too close to the bottom of the table for comfort. It's all very well making an example of Bent, but Lambert doesn't want to become known as a manager who can't work with big players.
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