Fifpro, football’s world players’ union, has urged the game’s authorities to address global fixture congestion following a traumatic Premier League festive period that has resulted in 53 different injuries.

Data supplied for The Daily Telegraph by Premier Injuries Limited also suggests a huge spike in recent weeks, with 96 injuries of varying severity reported across last month and the first two days of 2020. That is only one fewer than those injuries lasting more than 10 days across the whole of August and September and, with another 17 players being assessed, the number will almost certainly swell in the coming days.

Clubs have been playing four matches across 12 days over Christmas and the New Year but the gap between fixtures has been as little as two days – and was even down to 46 hours for Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Newcastle United suffered four injuries in the space of 20 minutes against Leicester City on New Year’s Day, while Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said that he was forced to play already injured players in the 4-0 defeat by West Ham United. England captain Harry Kane suffered a hamstring injury in the second half of Tottenham’s defeat by Southampton after previously playing every minute of seven league matches in December.