The football calendar is congested as it is, but eight Premier League teams will need to find two free slots in 2023 to play matches postponed by the Queen’s death.
The entire pyramid of English football came to a standstill last weekend after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, with the decision to postpone all matches as a show of respect.
Two more Premier League games were then postponed to next weekend due to the queen’s funeral on Monday and the need for police in the capital.
That includes the trip from Liverpool to Chelsea and Man United vs. Leeds, making them two postponed league games in a row for the quartet.
Crystal Palace and Brighton are in the same position with a planned rail strike, as their game before the international break was moved well before the Queen’s passing.
And Man City and Arsenal are now eight Premier League teams needing to reshuffle two league games after the turn of the year as the Gunners must meet their Europa League commitments.
Mikel Arteta’s team were due to host PSV Eindhoven on Thursday, but the events surrounding the Queen’s funeral meant that the match was moved to October 20, meaning their game against City, scheduled for the night before, , was postponed.
While those not currently in European competition have more room on the calendar to find a time for these postponed games, those in Europe have little wiggle room thanks to it being a World Cup year.
There is no chance that most of these games, if any, will take place in 2022 and the progression in Europe and the domestic cups only creates an additional headache.
If FA Cup third and fourth round replays return, that means two of the current five “free” midweek slots in 2023 could be deemed unavailable for these rearranged league games.
Canceling replays of the fourth round of the FA Cup and putting last weekend’s full program there solves a big part of the problem.
But it may not solve the whole problem. If Chelsea and Liverpool are at opposite midweeks in the UCL draw, there would still be no place for that game.
— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) September 14, 2022
Also, those in the Champions League who make it to the knockout stages could be drawn on opposite sides of the draw and Chelsea vs. Liverpool, for example, would lose a ‘free’ midweek to play the match.
Not to mention that any team that reaches the League Cup final, quarter-final and FA Cup semi-final will have to rearrange more Premier League games. Talk about a programming nightmare!
