Keith Andrews will give his remaining Brentford players the week off before they return to the training ground on Saturday

The first international break of the season is under way - and this one is longer than fans will have become accustomed to.

For the first time, the Premier League and the Championship will come to a halt for three weeks rather than the usual two.

Football fans tend not to love international breaks, but this change has been done with good intentions.

It merges the four games played in the old September and October breaks into one slot.

So the domestic game stops for three weeks, rather than four weeks across two windows. Club football is actually getting a week back.

But for players not on international duty, three weeks is a long time for finely tuned athletes not to play competitively.

Here's how different teams plan to balance the international break.

Most squads in the Premier League these days are packed with international players, and Brentford are no different.

Most of the Bees' squad are away, with about 12 players - including Callum Wilson and Igor Thiago - left at their training facility, including five who are coming back from injury.

Brentford have a longer break than almost every other team, given they hosted Chelsea on Friday evening.

Boss Keith Andrews has given his first-team players a week off with individual training programmes to follow. Those players will not have restrictions on leaving the country, but it is unlikely long-haul flights would be sanctioned.

The squad will reconvene on Saturday, 26 September to begin training again, before playing a behind-closed-doors game against another English club on the weekend of 3 October.

That friendly could potentially give the likes of Nathan Collins and Sepp van den Berg a chance to return to action, with the rest of the squad made up of under-21 players.

The second international break will look very different, with the Bees playing Brighton on Sunday, 8 November and back in action against Everton on Saturday, 21 November.

Players may be given the odd day off, but in general it will be a normal training programme with no friendly before the usual preparation for the fixture against the Toffees.

Liverpool, meanwhile, will carry on training with the small number of players that remain, with a few days off.

Manager Andoni Iraola says he will be left with "no more than three days probably to prepare" for the home game with Manchester City on 11 October.

Aston Villa have a very different international break planned.

Unai Emery will return to former club Sevilla, where he won the Europa League three times on the bounce.

Sevilla and Villa will face off in the 15th edition of the Antonio Puerta Trophy on Friday, 2 October.

The game is played in memory of the 22-year-old Sevilla wing-back, who died on 28 August 2007 after having multiple cardiac arrests on the pitch during a La Liga game against Getafe.

Tony Mowbray was appointed Blackburn Rovers manager for a second time in June

While Premier League teams see their squads decimated by international call-ups, it is not quite as dramatic in the Championship.

Many clubs will only have a handful, such as Blackburn Rovers with just four call-ups.

For Rovers boss Tony Mowbray this break will be a positive for a couple of reasons.

Mowbray has had to contend with an injury crisis in the early part of the season, with more than 10 players ruled out in the opening weeks.

The break gives Rovers the chance to ease some of those players back into action, such as Gady Beyuku and Moussa Baradji who recently made their comebacks, and others close to a return like Scott Wharton.

After the trip to Portsmouth on Saturday, Rovers headed back to Lancashire and will have a few days on the training ground this week.

After such a busy start to the campaign, with league fixtures and the Carabao Cup, it also gives Mowbray - who returned to the club in the summer - a chance to properly work with his players.

Mowbray intends to give the players a few days off from the end of the week. Players such as Yuri Ribeiro will be able to return home to Portugal, if they so wish.

The cycle will then be repeated the following week, training the first half with a short break over the weekend. Then for week three, it is back to the usual pre-match routine before the home game against Cardiff.

Mowbray is also looking to find a Premier League or League One team to play in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

It will help those returning from injury to get minutes in the bank, and keep other members of the squad ticking over.

In the two-week break in November, players may still get a short spell off while matches are more likely to be in-house affairs with teams made up of senior and under-21 players.

The three-week international break might have posed a unique situation for a couple of clubs, whereby they could have a full squad and no games to play.

League One carries on playing unless clubs get three call-ups which meet the EFL's criteria, then a postponement can be requested.

Only four of the 12 matches have survived on each of the two weekends.

Yet many clubs prepared in advance by scheduling Football League Trophy fixtures during these three weeks.

Clubs tend to rotate in this competition anyway, so the games still go ahead even if league games are postponed.

Twelve teams will play two trophy ties, with 10 clubs playing once.

That left just Leyton Orient and Reading at risk at not having a game to play. Both have only had one league match called off, so will not have all three weeks vacant.

'Far from their best' to 'a joy to watch' - ranking Premier League teams' start to season

The pros and cons of being a long-distance football manager