David Artell says he still gets the same sort of buzz on fixtures release day, as he did when he played the game – but he doesn’t read too much into it!

The EFL fixtures are released tomorrow morning and the Alex boss says that although ‘it is what it is, there is still that anticipation and forward planning to look forward to.

The Crewe Alexandra boss told the club’s official website: “There is always that buzz when the fixtures come out. You do glance at them and pick out certain dates and games, I think everyone does.

“I usually see who we have first and second, then Boxing Day and then at the end. I always look at special dates and birthdays that may clash. I don’t know if my wife’s birthday is on a Saturday this time around but if it is I am hoping that we don’t get Crawley away that day!

“You really can’t look to deeply at it and think that could be a tough period there or we could go on a good run there. It very rarely works out like that. You can meet teams that are in form at the time or they are having a bit of dip.

The boss added: “Of course, we will prepare for the first game and the Cup game that usually comes soon after and take it from there. You cannot read too much into it. We have to play everyone twice over the season and be ready for that.”