Steve Bruce reveals how much time off he's given his Newcastle United players

Steve Bruce last week blasted what he felt was a “ridiculous” situation whereby the fourth-round replays were being staged during the Premier League’s first winter break.

While other clubs have been resting, Newcastle’s players have been working following their failure to beat League One club Oxford United at St James’s Park.

Captain Jamaal Lascelles said the players “only had themselves to blame” for the situation.

The jaded squad, however, will still get some time off ahead of the February 16 game against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

“They’ll still have four or five days off, which is better than nothing,” said head coach Bruce.

“It’s not as long as I would like to give them. They’ll have a long weekend – that’s what we get for not winning the first one.”

Lascelles, Newcastle’s captain, speaking ahead of the FA Cup replay away at Oxford said he believes the extra game is down to the players given that they didn’t perform against the League One side in the first game between the two sides.

"Everybody was looking forward to it (the break), but it's our job,” said Lascelles.

"And we all knew if we didn't perform against Oxford, we'd have to play again.

“We only have ourselves to blame."

It is the first time that a so-called winter break has been introduced in English football.

The FA believe a break in the season will help the England national side to succeed at future World Cups and European Championships.

England's governing body have also agreed to move the FA Cup fifth round to midweek and ditch replays from that stage of the competition.

The move is only affecting Premier League clubs with the Football League’s schedule remaining as it is.

EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey, when asked why last year, said: “It is currently impractical even if it was desirable for the EFL to introduce a similar break in our competitions. We will look to showcase the Sky Bet EFL during the two‑week period.”