Martin O'Neill believes the second games during the international break should be played on Tuesdays to give players added time to rest before the weekend's domestic fixtures.

The Aston Villa manager used the example of Stiliyan Petrov who is facing a long flight from Georgia to Birmingham before then preparing for the Premier League clash against Portsmouth.

O'Neill said: "The players on international duty don't have the break that the non-internationals do and they have to come back at very late hours.

"For instance, Stiliyan Petrov plays the second game of his international week on Wednesday night in Georgia.

"He then has to travel back because we play Portsmouth on Saturday. Those are the obvious concerns of a club manager but I wouldn't be alone in that.

"There's talk - and I think it's a good idea - of playing the second game on a Tuesday. I don't think many people would disagree with that because it gives you the extra day.

"We were lucky with the last international break because we didn't play Tottenham until the Monday night. We got the extra two days which was very beneficial for us.

"The downside of that was that we played on the Monday, had the UEFA Cup game in Bulgaria on the Thursday night and then an early morning derby against West Brom on the Sunday.

"So that added up to three games in six days. It's swings and roundabouts.

"But generally, if you had an extra day that would give players the extra time to get home from fairly lengthy distances away.

"It would give them added preparation time and I think everyone would be happy."