ARSENAL will benefit from their rivals’ players being exhausted by the World Cup.
The Premier League shut down in mid-November to make way for an unprecedented winter World Cup in Qatar.
After 14 games Arsenal built up a five-point lead over the defending champions Manchester City.
It was a breathtaking start to the Gunners’ campaign – who have not won a league title in 18 years.
Now they hope to pick up where they left off when they host West Ham on Boxing Day.
And in one respect they may well have the upper hand over Manchester City due to their players’ lack of playing time at the World Cup.
According to Bonus Code BetsArsenal players only accumulated a total of 1,339 minutes in Qatar.
That ranks seventh in the Premier League, behind the rest of their title rivals.
In theory, this should mean Michael ArtetaThe Ajax team is more rested for the rest of the season.
Compare that to Pep Guardiola’s City side who scored 4,628 minutes in the World Cup – almost 1,000 more than the second highest tally Tottenham.
HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON FOOTBALLL
Manchester United and Chelsea are the only other England sides to have amassed more than 3,000 minutes of action in Qatar.
However, there is also a downside to Arsenal’s post-World Cup impact as they will be without a star striker Gabriel Jesus for THREE MONTHS.
The Brazilian, 26, played in his country’s wins over Serbia and Switzerland, but was subsequently ruled out after being injured in the loss to Cameroon.
Him next flew back to the UK and had knee surgery that will keep him out for a considerable time.
In the meantime, Newcastlewho are third and only seven points off the top of the table saw their players third LEAST of all Premier League outfits.
Eddie Howe’s men have played just 453 minutes in the Middle East in total – with only Crystal Palace (406) and Southampton (270) less.