The Premier League will strongly resist any attempt by Fifa to move the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to January. The president of the world governing body, Sepp Blatter, today backed the idea.

The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, said the proposal to switch the World Cup from the heat of the Qatari summer to January would create "many problems". Premier League insiders said a switch would create so many obstacles as to be completely impractical.

"I expect it will be held in the winter," said Blatter, who is in the Qatari capital, Doha, for the Asian Cup. "We have time to look at this question. It is still 11 years away but we must decide the most adequate period for a successful World Cup, which means January or the end of the year. When you play football you must protect the main people: the players."

Blatter's words will increase suspicions that a move was discussed at Fifa before last month's vote, before which Qatar argued that it could deal with temperatures of around 50C by air-conditioning training camps and stadiums.

Wenger said the plans to alter the timing of the tournament "came out of nowhere" and added: "It would demand a complete reorganisation of the whole world's fixtures and I cannot see that happening. Certainly it would create many problems between clubs and countries and countries and Fifa."

The Premier League and other major European leagues are likely to argue that a 10-week break in the middle of their season would fatally undermine their competitions and cause untold problems with broadcasting partners and sponsors. Clubs would raise concerns about injuries and disruption; the calendar for the seasons either side of the World Cup would also have to be altered.

Blatter also said that he believed "resentment" of Britain's special privileges in Fifa may have harmed England's 2018 World Cup bid. "If you have all these privileges you must handle them in a very intelligent way," Blatter said.