Mourinho was moaning the other day that by the halfway point of the season every team should have played all their games up to that point and he singled us out as having two in hand on most clubs.
I think in other countries where he has managed, Spain and Italy notably, teams repeat the order of games from 1-19 to 20-38. I do prefer that format to be honest. Something bugs me about playing a team in December and then the return league game being a few weeks later. It happens every season. For us, this year it's our games with Burnley.