Now the gruelling festive period will see the Blues forced to negotiate the onset of five matches in the next 15 days.

That's the price Tony Adams' men have paid for the European endeavours which have contributed to them playing 23 fixtures so far during the current campaign.

At this stage of the season, that's four more than they've ever played since occupying the Premier League.

Last year it numbered 18 games, while 2005/06 produced just 15 matches.

Sylvain Distin more than most can appreciate the exhaustive run the Blues currently find themselves on. Along with David James (right), the pair have appeared in every single minute of action this season.

The Frenchman was also an ever-present in the Premier League last term, in total racking up 45 matches – three more than his nearest rival.

And the shattered 30-year-old is just relieved there are still a luxurious four days to go before Pompey's next encounter against Newcastle.

Distin said: 'I think about the international players we've got and, whenever we have a break, they still go off and play one or two games.

'I wonder how they do that?

'At the moment the amount of games we have makes it very, very difficult unless you have got a big squad and you have a big turnover – but we don't really have too much cover for those playing the games.

'I love my job but if I feel like I can't perform then I'd like not to play or to come out of the side. At the moment I feel good so I don't see why I'm not going to play, but it could happen.

'There are a lot of games at the moment.

'I'm not complaining, I'm just making a statement and maybe there's the reason why we didn't perform in the first half against West Brom. Maybe we needed a bit more time to get the legs going and get in the game.

'We'd only come back from Germany two days earlier. I love the game, I love to play and I know how lucky I am to have that job.

'But playing so many games in so little time can be difficult for the players.'

Of Pompey's 23 matches so far this season, 16 have come in the league.
Only in the 2006/07 campaign have they played as many at this stage.
On top of that there have been five Uefa Cup fixtures, one Carling Cup and the Community Shield.

The previous highest tally was in 2004/05 with four Carling Cup matches and 15 in the league totalling 19 overall. Meanwhile, the 15 matches in 2005/06 consisted of just 14 Premier League clashes and one in the Carling Cup.

Still it's not that bad when you look back.
In Pompey's final season in division one they played no fewer than 24 matches at this stage, of which 22 were in the league.

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