As a player, Graeme Le Saux would flick straight to December when he received the Premier League schedule for the coming season.

His teammates tended to be more concerned with which rival they would face on the campaign’s opening day, or working out when the season’s big derby matches were, or checking whether their last game fell at home or on the road. Le Saux always had one priority: to find out whether the list was naughty or nice.

“The key thing was whether Christmas had been kind to you,” he said. “If you had two home matches, or did not have to travel far, that made a massive difference. It kind of makes or breaks Christmas. It was the first thing I looked for: Where are we on Boxing Day?”

It is almost impossible to exaggerate the importance of the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day to English soccer. It is a connection to a longstanding tradition, one that dates back more than a century. It is a core tenet of the ultramodern Premier League’s international branding, a chance to reassert its popularity when most of its peers go into hibernation.