There is no mid-season World Cup to worry about and no delays caused by a pandemic, but the same scheduling issues of recent years are once again causing headaches in the Premier League.
Liverpool and Manchester City’s titanic Anfield scuffle ensured that there is just a point separating them and Arsenal in an enthralling title race, the last remaining battle in Europe’s major leagues.
At the bottom, there is another exciting fight to stay out of the final relegation place, while Tottenham Hotspur kept Aston Villa within striking distance in the battle for Champions League qualification with a 4-0 win at Villa Park.
While this is all going on, predicting the annual twists and turns remains almost impossible.
By the time the international break starts on March 18, the ‘games played’ column in the Premier League table will be far from uniform. Seven teams will have played 29 games, 12 will have played 28 and Chelsea will have played just 27 matches.
It leaves those in charge of scheduling at the Premier League with the unenviable task of squeezing the remaining games into a seven-week window before the final round of games on Sunday, May 19.
Where has the backlog come from?
Teams that are annually successful in the domestic cups will be familiar with this congestion.
This season, like many others, the backlog of postponed Premier League fixtures has come from teams progressing to the latter stages of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.
The final of the former meant Chelsea and Liverpool’s league games had to be moved, while their progression to the quarter-final of the FA Cup represents further problems to the calendar.
Fortunately, Liverpool were able to clear their first road block by facing Luton Town at home four days before beating Chelsea at Wembley. But, as the rearrangement coincided with a Champions League night, the Premier League had to seek approval from UEFA who prefer exclusivity for their matches where possible.
Chelsea’s home game against Tottenham, originally scheduled for the weekend of the Carabao Cup final, could not be played in that earlier slot because it had been selected for Sky Sports coverage in the UK and could not clash with TNT Sports’ Champions League coverage.
Confusing, I know.
The first five rounds of the FA Cup are given space in the Premier League calendar, but the quarter-finals and semi-finals clash with league games because it is impossible for all 20 top-flight teams to make it past the fifth round.
The four quarter-finals are being played across the weekend of March 16-17, leading to six Premier League postponements as six of its teams made it into the last eight. The semi-final line-up is likely to be made up of four of those sides which will lead to further postponements on the weekend of April 20 and 21.
Progress for Liverpool and Manchester City would complicate matters further given they remain in European competition also.
When can the postponed matches be played?
Liverpool and Manchester City are not alone in their pursuit of European glory this season as Arsenal are still in the Champions League, Brighton and West Ham are in the Europa League and Aston Villa are in the Europa Conference League.
And this stage of the season is the busiest of all for teams still fighting for continental honours, as the following dates show:
- UEFA quarter-final first legs: Tuesday, April 9 – Thursday, April 11
- UEFA quarter-final second legs: Tuesday, April 16 – Thursday, April 18
- UEFA semi-final first legs: Tuesday, April 30 – Thursday, May 2
- UEFA semi-final second legs: Tuesday, May 7 – Thursday, May 9
All three European finals will be played after the conclusion of the 2023-24 Premier League season
If UEFA is defiant in its desire for exclusivity as its competitions reach their business end, the opportunities to rearrange Premier League matches — particularly those that could be decisive in the title race — are running out.
And even if UEFA is happy to waive the exclusivity as they did for Liverpool vs Luton earlier in the season, the teams still in European competitions cannot play league fixtures in the same midweek. The same is true if their matches are selected for Sky Sports broadcast which, for teams vying for the title, is very likely.
Manchester City’s Champions League defence is going to plan so far (Photo: Copa/Getty Images)
Discounting the midweeks occupied by matches in UEFA competitions, there are three free midweeks left between the end of the international break and the end of the season. That becomes two when acknowledging that there is already a full round of Premier League fixtures scheduled in one of the other three, between Tuesday, April 2 and Thursday, April 4.
That leaves two spare midweeks: Tuesday, April 23 to Thursday, April 25 and Tuesday, May 14 to Thursday, May 16. The first of those midweeks falls between gameweek 34 and 35 while the second of those is between 37 and 38, the final matchdays of the season.
Currently, for everyone other than Chelsea, only one of those spare midweek slots is needed but the teams that make into the FA Cup semi-finals will likely need both. With Liverpool and Manchester City still in that competition and well-fancied to advance through their quarter-finals, it could set up a chaotic final week of the season.
So, how could that affect the run-in?
If Liverpool and Manchester City make it into the FA Cup semis as well as reaching the latter stages of the Champions League and Europa League, here is a (purely hypothetical) look at what the run-in may look like for the Premier League’s three title favourites.
Green = confirmed fixture, orange = exact date to be confirmed, red = hypothetical rearranged fixture
| DATE | LIVERPOOL | MAN CITY | ARSENAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 16 & 17 | FA Cup QF | FA Cup QF | No match |
| March 30 & 31 | Brighton (H) | Arsenal (H) | Man City (A) |
| April 2, 3, 4 | Sheffield United (H) | Aston Villa (H) | Luton (H) |
| April 6 & 7 | Man United (A) | Crystal Palace (A) | Brighton (A) |
| April 13 & 14 | Crystal Palace (H) | Luton (H) | Aston Villa (H) |
| April 20 | FA Cup SF | FA Cup SF | No match* |
| April 23 & 24 | Everton (A) | Brighton (A) | Chelsea (H) |
| April 27 | West Ham (A) | Nottingham Forest (A) | Tottenham (A) |
| May 4 | Tottenham (H) | Wolves (H) | Bournemouth (H) |
| May 11 | Aston Villa (A) | Fulham (A) | Man United (A) |
| May 14 & 15 | Fulham (A) | Tottenham (A) | Wolves (A) |
| May 19 | Wolves (H) | West Ham (H) | Everton (H) |
*Wolves vs Arsenal expected to be postponed on April 20 because of Wolves’ FA Cup involvement
The Premier League is waiting for the Champions League and Europa League quarter-final draws, as well as the outcome of the FA Cup semi-final draw before making a decision regarding the rearranged fixtures.
But there is a strong chance that neither of those will provide any respite or wiggle room for what is currently set to be a crazy end to the season.
Liverpool and Manchester City are no strangers to fighting on three fronts, but Jurgen Klopp has seldom had anything that resembles a full-strength squad available this season. The treble winners are not exempt from such misfortune either as early-season injuries for Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, and one for Ederson at Anfield, have shown.
Mikel Arteta has never been in this position with Arsenal where he must balance a title challenge and European knockout football. For that to continue, they will need to recreate their imperious domestic form to overturn a first-leg deficit against Porto.
But a Champions League last-16 exit may serve as a blessing in disguise given the end-of-season chaos on the cards.
