The Football Association (FA) will block any attempt to reschedule postponed Premier League games during the winter break later this month.
The break was scrapped last year due to the compressed fixture list.
But it has been re-introduced this year and no games will be played between January 23 and February 7.
However, the postponement of 19 league games over the last month due to COVID-19 outbreaks, sees some club now having many outstanding matches.
The blank weekend on January 29-30 would be an obvious time on which to play, but the FA are reluctant to give ground.
The FA wants England’s players to be well rested ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Although the Premier League have no plans to use the winter break to clear the fixture backlog, that could change if more fixtures are postponed or if some of this weekend’s FA Cup third-round ties are called off.
Four Premier League games have now been re-arranged for the midweek nights of January 18 and 19.