Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger furious with ‘completely unexplainable’ early start to the Premier League season

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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has slammed Premier League chiefs, calling the decision to bring the start of the season forward by a week ‘completely unexplainable’ and ‘a massive mistake’.

The Gunners start up their Barclays Premier League campaign against West Ham on Sunday, two weeks before the start of Spain’s La Liga and a week ahead of the Bundesliga in Germany.

And Wenger – who is missing forward Alexis Sanchez this weekend with the striker needing more time to recover from this summer’s Copa America – says it goes against every doctor’s advice to bring teams back this early.

Arsene Wenger is furious the new season starts a week earlier, insisting his players haven't had enough rest

Alexis Sanchez will miss Sunday's Premier League opener against West Ham to continue his recovery

Sanchez looks at his manager during Arsenal's training session ahead of the new season this weekend

The 65-year-old has long been an advocate for the Christmas break which is seen across the continent and says that adding a week to the season is a ridiculous trade-off for the lack of time off.

‘I’m not a fan of starting earlier because I think it’s a massive mistake for England to start one week earlier,’ Wenger said.

‘You have no Christmas break and I don’t know how they came up with that idea that one game less at Christmas deserves one week less holiday, especially when you have the European Championships after the season.

‘It’s completely unexplainable and it’s a decision, once again, that on a technical side we were not consulted on at all. These kind of decisions are taken in meetings where we are not involved.’

Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere suffered a hairline fracture to his ankle this week, while Danny Welbeck is still not fit to start the season after a long spell out with a knee problem.

And Wenger says the short summer means players’ bones are not given enough time to heal from minor issues, something that could have impacted on Wilshere’s injury.

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has been ruled out for 'a few weeks' after fracturing his fibula in training

Arsenal manager Wenger speaks with Olivier Giroud during a training session ahead of the new season

‘In the FIFA rules, you have to give four weeks holiday to your players,’ the Frenchman said. ‘Soon, if you want to do that, you will start the season with the youth team because all your players should be on holiday when you start the season.

‘The rest for a player, the natural rest, every doctor tells you that for the bones it takes six weeks to heal out completely. You had that in England before but any player doesn’t get that anymore at the top level. They get two to three weeks.’ 

Wenger, handing out instructions in training, has long been an advocate of a Christmas break in England