When is the Premier League winter break?

Rather than the league stopping completely - like we see in Spain, Germany and France for example - the break is split over two weekends.

That means matchweek 21 is over two weekends, with five games in each. It means 10 teams play one weekend, and get the following off, with the other 10 taking a weekend off before playing.

Half of the games are across 12-14 January, with the other five taking place across 20-22 January.

In 2020, the break took place across matchweek 26 so it is happening considerably earlier this season, and much closer to the hectic Christmas period, where the schedule is more condensed.

Franz Beckenbauer, who has died aged 78, stands comparison with any of football's legendary figures, both as player and manager.

'Der Kaiser', a contemporary, friend and rival of England's 1966 World Cup-winning duo Bobby Moore and Sir Bobby Charlton as well as Brazil's Pele, was part of a golden group of world-class players - including the great Netherlands star Johan Cruyff - who bestrode the game in the 1960s and 1970s.

Beckenbauer captained West Germany to World Cup victory in his home country in 1974 when the Netherlands were beaten in the final in Munich.

He replicated the feat as manager when Argentina were overcome in the 1990 final in Rome's Stadio Olimpico, making up for the disappointment of losing to a Diego Maradona-inspired side in the final in Mexico four years earlier.

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