The Premier League fixture list has been thrown into uncertainty after the United Kingdom entered a period of national mourning following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
All fixtures in the Premier League were postponed last weekend as a showing of respect but games will resume this weekend. Resources are, however, stretched amid ongoing events.
Manchester United confirmed on Monday that their game home against Leeds on Sunday is one of the casualties this weekend, with two other games also postponed.
That means United’s most recent domestic game, the 3-2 win over Arsenal, will be their final league game before next week’s international break and Erik ten Hag’s side won’t return to Premier League action until early October.
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They will, however, play out the second group game in the Europa League on Thursday as they travel to Moldova to face Sheriff, who won their first game.
United are already up against it in their European campaign after losing their first game against Real Sociedad last week and must pick up three points in Moldova.
That game will spell the end of the first Premier League spurt of the season as the players prepare to leave for international duty. A return to action is not until October 2, when United make the short trip across town to face rivals Manchester City.
Victory over Pep Guardiola’s side would give Ten Hag a fifth straight win in the Premier League, having arrested United’s disastrous start to the season with big wins against Liverpool, Southampton, Leicester and Arsenal.
Authorities are under increasing pressure to find a date for the postponed games against Crystal Palace and Leeds, with this season’s fixture pile-up already being questioned due to the mid-season World Cup.
Perhaps the Premier League shouldn’t have been as hasty in cancelling all last week’s fixtures. Perhaps if they had a brain between them they would have realised what was round the corner.
Probably because Leeds have to have half the police force following them because of their poor crowd control record.