The Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez thinks that the people who compile the Premier League fixture list should get their act together, and stop sending clubs on 500 mile journeys at Christmas!

“I am a foreign manager and people talk about Christmas being a busy time,” he said. “In Spain, it is the same, and it is good to play to keep up the tradition, but when you analyse it there is not a worse time to travel.

“It is something to consider because a lot of fans will be on the roads, and maybe it will be snowing, so travelling will be very difficult for them. It would be very easy to change.”

“My idea is simple,” he said. “You do the draw at the beginning of the season and then mirror it for the second half of the league. It would be a level playing field, as they do in Spain, and Italy, and everywhere else.

“We have the same number of teams, the same TV rights issues, the same press …  I don’t know why it is not like that in England.”

“Always when you go away you think about your fans. At least you hope you can make them go home happy.”

If you don’t beat Portsmouth Rafa, the fans will be VERY unhappy!