Fixture congestion concerns Hodgson

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is already concerned about fixture congestion before a ball has even been kicked in the Barclays Premier League.

Next Wednesday, three days before the start of the new campaign, England have a friendly at home to Hungary.

Hodgson’s players will at least have an extra days’ rest before they face Arsenal in their opening game at Anfield on the following Sunday before they tackle a Europa League play-off four days later.

The draw for that takes place later today in Nyon and could present Liverpool with a 5,500-mile round trip to face Qarabag in Azerbaijan on the fringes of western Asia.

Hodgson has no argument with the international date as it had been set in stone by FIFA but feels the Premier League could have been more accommodating as a result.

“It is frustrating not just for me, but for 90% of my colleagues,” said the Liverpool boss.

“In the Premier League there are very few teams who don’t have a lot of international players on their books going away.

“Unfortunately FIFA set this date a long time back and we have known August 11 is a FIFA date.

“It is a bit unfortunate they have decided to start the league three days after that.

“In my opinion, it would have been nice if that could have been pushed back and we had same sort of time the teams in Italy, Spain and Germany have to prepare because their leagues don’t start until after ours.”