Wenger believes PL should have kicked off one week later

Arsenal football team manager Arsene Wenger is of the opinion that the Premier League should have kicked off a week later to give players the chance to recover from the World Cup.

Arsenal had 11 players in Brazil, and Germany World Cup winners Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski have only just returned to the club.

Wenger said that Arsenal could have done with one week later in all the competitions. Meanwhile, Chelsea football team manager Jose Mourinho also said that World Cup fatigue has stopped him from fielding his strongest line-up, The BBC reported.

Ozil, Mertesacker and Podolski will not feature in Saturday's Premier League opener against Crystal Palace or, in all likelihood, Tuesday's Champions League play-off first leg at Beskitas.

The Champions League final is on 6 June 2015 in Berlin and Wenger would have liked to see England following Spain and Italy with later opening fixtures. He said that the final of the World Cup was on July 13; the start of the Premier League season is August 16.

Wenger added that if one wants to give some holiday to the players, their preparation becomes very short. He also said that if one does not give players enough holiday or enough build-up in their preparation and play them straight away, then they get injured.

Meanwhile, Brazil trio Oscar, Willian and Ramires, Belgian pair Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois, and Germany's Andre Schurrle have missed most of Chelsea's pre-season after the World Cup.

And ahead of Monday night's trip to Burnley, Mourinho said that they are not ready individually, but he added that they have to be ready as a team for the day.

Mourinho said that a team of six guys cannot be ready, adding that this is modern football and it is going in the tendency of more matches, more competitions, less time to work, even not enough time to have a real holiday for bodies and brains that top football players need.