Facts say Jurgen Klopp was right to protest about Premier League kick-off times

None of the teams who played in the Champions League on Wednesday will be playing in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime. Which is perhaps just as well for them. By their standards, results in such circumstances have been poor.

Jurgen Klopp complained about Liverpool having to kick off at Brighton at 12.30pm on a Saturday after playing in the Champions League on the Wednesday. He said it was dangerous for players. James Milner pulled a hamstring and Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw.

I am not a medic and I cannot comment on Klopp’s concern about a higher risk of injuries. I can say that performance levels do seem to drop, though.

After other Champions League games Liverpool got four wins and one draw, which was a perfectly acceptable result at Manchester City.

City drew 1-1 at West Ham on a Saturday in a 12.30pm kick-off after playing in the Champions League on a Wednesday. After other Champions League games they got three wins and that draw with Liverpool.

Manchester United are the third team to have kicked off in the Premier League at 12.30pm on a Saturday after playing in the Champions League on the Wednesday. They won 3-1 at Everton.

Three teams is a small sample. So is one season. Klopp, though, is not the first top manager to complain about early kick-offs on Saturday in the Premier League after Wednesday games in the Champions League. And evidence from a larger number of teams and seasons suggests results do suffer.

Let us go through it, step by step. The figures that follow cover the past 15 completed seasons, 2005-06 to 2019-20. They are for teams who played in the Champions League and Premier League.

I recorded results in the Premier League before Champions League games, after Champions League games and at other times.

At other times teams averaged 2.04 points per game. This is the standard against which we can judge results before and after Champions League games.

Before playing in the Champions League teams averaged 2.10 points per game – slightly better. Let us be cautious, though, and say simply that there was no suggestion of players taking their eye off the ball in the Premier League to look ahead to the Champions League.

After playing in the Champions League teams averaged 1.92 points per game – quite a lot worse. Incidentally, there was no indication that Champions League away games were harder to recover from than Champions League home games. Slightly the opposite – but, again, let us be cautious.

In Premier League games that did not precede or follow a Champions League game, teams won 61 per cent of the time, drew 21 per cent and lost 18 per cent. In Premier League games that came after a Champions League game they won 57 per cent of the time, drew 22 per cent and lost 21 per cent. They won less often, drew more often and lost more often.

The shortest gap between playing in the Champions League and Premier League was three days. Teams who kicked off at 12.30pm or 12.45pm on a Saturday after playing in the Champions League on a Wednesday averaged just 1.74 points per game. They won only 50 per cent of the time, drew 24 per cent and lost 26 per cent.

They fared worse than teams who kicked off later on a Saturday and teams who played on a later day. And those teams, together, fared worse than they usually did.

Liverpool played in the Champions League this Wednesday but they had already won their group so they could rest anybody they wanted to. They do not kick off in the Premier League until 4.30pm on Sunday.

Manchester City had also won their Champions League group before playing on Wednesday. They kick off tomorrow at 5.30pm against Manchester United, who were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Chelsea had already won their Champions League group before playing on Tuesday and they kick off in the Premier League tomorrow at 8pm. The Champions League group phase is now over.

Has juggling the Champions League and Premier League been harder than in previous seasons because this season will be shorter? I cannot say. Does kicking off early on a Saturday in the Premier League after playing on a Wednesday in the Champions League increase the risk of players getting injured? I do not know. There is, though, evidence that in those circumstances teams get worse results.

It may help to explain a couple of Premier League results from earlier this season, and it might provide a useful note of warning for when the Champions League knockout rounds start in February.

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