Liverpool and Man City among the NINE Premier League teams using cup action to take their own winter break
Clubs in England's top flight who are out of the FA Cup have used this weekend to have their own holiday abroad
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PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are creating their own winter breaks — and it is the FA Cup which is suffering.
Eight top-flight teams took advantage of their absence from the Cup to book trips abroad for warm-weather training.
An early exit from the FA Cup might annoy fans and television companies.
But for many Premier League managers it opens up a gap in the schedule to break out the passports and get some sun.
Discussions over a winter break have gone on for years.
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But Premier League bosses have essentially instigated their own version of it.
Michael Gray, the former Sunderland and Blackburn defender, said: “After the long slog of Christmas and the January period, managers are now looking at the spare FA Cup weekends as the chance to go away.
“A break means you can get away from the rigmarole of going into the same training ground, doing the exact same thing you do on a weekly basis.
“When you are abroad, you eat and train together.
“It allows January transfer window signings to get to know their team-mates better.
“Training abroad gets sunshine on the body and helps the muscles to recover.
“It could prove the difference between relegation and survival.”
Manchester City are the only side involved in the FA Cup this weekend who have booked a sunshine break.
The Manchester derby next weekend has been postponed as United are in the EFL Cup final against Southampton.
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So Pep Guardiola’s men will travel to Abu Dhabi after their Champions League tie with Monaco tomorrow.
Dubai is the most popular destination with Everton, West Ham and Stoke all over there. In the past, mid- season trips abroad have turned into glorified boozy stag parties, resulting in negative headlines.
Leicester came home early from their 2000 stay in La Manga after Stan Collymore let off a fire extinguisher in a bar.
And Craig Bellamy attacked Liverpool team-mate John Arne Riise with a golf club after an infamous boozy trip in 2007.
But Gray, who twice went away with Blackburn, believes stories of all-day drinking are a thing of the past.
He said: “When we were away with Blackburn, boss Mark Hughes said, ‘I don’t mind if you have a drink and enjoy yourself, as long as you are ready for training in the morning’.
“We were all professional and did that. With social media the way it is now, players have to be very careful.
“They always have to act very professionally.”