"Playing so much over Christmas is what makes British football unique"

There were two matches I always looked out for when the fixture list was first published every summer.

I'd go straight to who we were playing on the opening match, because you know that all of the hard pre-season graft is building up to that fixture, and then who were the opposition on Boxing Day.

There was something quite special about playing all over the festive period and I don't understand those who have negative feelings about the packed Christmas schedule.

It's a great time of the year and of course there are a lot of games. While a lot of jobs tend to wind down over Christmas footballers are not only asked to carry on as normal but actually do more.

So what? I loved it. This year teams are playing weekend, midweek and weekend which is easily doable - EFL teams won't even notice the difference - and after that it's the FA Cup when sides will get plenty of of rest into first-team regulars during the third round.

I didn't really know any different. I remember being given Christmas off when I was an apprentice as a treat for my performances at Charlton but I had already broken through into the first team by the time I was 17 so it was just a natural thing to work.

Maybe it was because I didn't have kids but Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and so on were all the same to me. If you needed to train, play or travel, then it was no problem. I spent many a New Year's Eve tucked up in a hotel bed before midnight.

Most managers even set training to suit with a quick 45-minute routine if you are at home the next day, or if you have to travel then it might be a 5pm session followed by a trip so that the players at least get the day with the kids.

Playing so much over Christmas is what makes British football unique and you just had to adopt the right mindset to stay positive.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the break during my time in Portugal.

When I was at Benfica we played just before Christmas and then didn't have to return to training until January 2 and I managed to get home. But I think that was more a case of me being able to spend with the family, who were back in England, rather than a desperate need of a breather from football.

Playing never bothered me and you are more likely to put in a better performance with that type of attitude rather than moaning about how busy the schedule is.

The festive spirit won't be inside most stadiums this year unfortunately but it really is the most wonderful time of the year to watch and play football.

Mikel Arteta's stats don't add up

I am saying this before Arsenal played Manchester City in the EFL Cup, but the result of the Tuesday quarter-final tie won't have any impact on my thoughts regarding Mikel Arteta's press conference from earlier this week.

Regular readers will know I remain firmly in Arteta's corner. He needs time, patience, money, transfer windows and quality players to turn Arsenal around.

Clearly Arsenal's data analysts have supplied Arteta with the stats to prove how unlucky Arsenal have been in this season's Premier League but with my own eyes I don't see the numbers adding up.

Arteta has left himself open to even more criticism and I see bookmakers are virtually 50-50 in terms of Arsenal finishing in the top half of the Premier League this season.

They won't go down - the 25-1 should be at least 100-1 - and normally I would say a squad of that quality should win enough games against teams from outside the top six to get themselves into a semi-respectable position sooner rather than later.

However, Arsenal have seven points to make on tenth-placed West Ham and I don't think they will catch them, while Villa have a point more than the Hammers with two games in hand so on the evidence of what I have seen it could be a bottom-half finish this season.

Scott Minto presents the Racing Post's weekly YouTube football show in association with Betfred.

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport