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Monday, September 21, 2026

How will clubs train during three-week international break?

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Most squads in the Premier League these days are packed with international players, and Brentford are no different.

Most of the Bees' squad are away, with about 12 players - including Callum Wilson and Igor Thiago - left at their training facility, including five who are coming back from injury.

Brentford have a longer break than almost every other team, given they hosted Chelsea on Friday evening.

Boss Keith Andrews has given his first-team players a week off with individual training programmes to follow. Those players will not have restrictions on leaving the country, but it is unlikely long-haul flights would be sanctioned.

The squad will reconvene on Saturday, 26 September to begin training again, before playing a behind-closed-doors game against another English club on the weekend of 3 October.

That friendly could potentially give the likes of Nathan Collins and Sepp van den Berg a chance to return to action, with the rest of the squad made up of under-21 players.

The second international break will look very different, with the Bees playing Brighton on Sunday, 8 November and back in action against Everton on Saturday, 21 November.

Players may be given the odd day off, but in general it will be a normal training programme with no friendly before the usual preparation for the fixture against the Toffees.

Liverpool, meanwhile, will carry on training with the small number of players that remain, with a few days off.

Manager Andoni Iraola says he will be left with "no more than three days probably to prepare" for the home game with Manchester City on 11 October.

Aston Villa have a very different international break planned.

Unai Emery will return to former club Sevilla, where he won the Europa League three times on the bounce.

Sevilla and Villa will face off in the 15th edition of the Antonio Puerta Trophy on Friday, 2 October.

The game is played in memory of the 22-year-old Sevilla wing-back, who died on 28 August 2007 after having multiple cardiac arrests on the pitch during a La Liga game against Getafe.

While Premier League teams see their squads decimated by international call-ups, it is not quite as dramatic in the Championship.

Many clubs will only have a handful, such as Blackburn Rovers with just four call-ups.

For Rovers boss Tony Mowbray this break will be a positive for a couple of reasons.

Mowbray has had to contend with an injury crisis in the early part of the season, with more than 10 players ruled out in the opening weeks.

The break gives Rovers the chance to ease some of those players back into action, such as Gady Beyuku and Moussa Baradji who recently made their comebacks, and others close to a return like Scott Wharton.

After the trip to Portsmouth on Saturday, Rovers headed back to Lancashire and will have a few days on the training ground this week.

After such a busy start to the campaign, with league fixtures and the Carabao Cup, it also gives Mowbray - who returned to the club in the summer - a chance to properly work with his players.

But it will not all be training.

Mowbray intends to give the players a few days off from the end of the week. Players such as Yuri Ribeiro will be able to return home to Portugal, if they so wish.

The cycle will then be repeated the following week, training the first half with a short break over the weekend. Then for week three, it is back to the usual pre-match routine before the home game against Cardiff.

Mowbray is also looking to find a Premier League or League One team to play in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

It will help those returning from injury to get minutes in the bank, and keep other members of the squad ticking over.

In the two-week break in November, players may still get a short spell off while matches are more likely to be in-house affairs with teams made up of senior and under-21 players.

View the original on BBC News

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