Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, all of last weekend's Premier League matches were postponed, including Monday’s, to mourn her death with the country.
It was decided not long after the death of the Queen, that the Premier League would cancel all games the following weekend to show respect.
The league's statement read,
‘At a meeting this morning, Premier League clubs paid tribute to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. honour her extraordinary life and contribution to the nation, and as a mark of respect, this weekend’s Premier League match round will be postponed, including Monday evening's game.
Further updates regarding premier league fixtures during the period of mourning will be provided in due course.’
The European matches still went ahead that night, with the teams paying tribute to her majesty.
While the country and league clubs pay tribute, it marks the question, when will the postponed games be played instead?
Postponed Games
Fulham v Chelsea
Bournemouth v Brighton
Leicester v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Wolverhampton
Southampton v Brentford
Manchester City v Tottenham
Arsenal v Everton
West Ham v Newcastle
Crystal Palace v Manchester United
Leeds United v Nottingham Forest
There are no set-in-stone dates as of yet, and it is likely to be a challenge to find new dates with the World Cup just around the corner, and of course, Europa League and Champions League matches throughout the year.
With the funeral taking place on September 19th, Manchester United v Leeds, Brighton v Crystal Palace, and Chelsea v Liverpool games have been postponed as well. The main reasoning is, a lack of available police paying their respects, as the games are rivalries, the PL believes it is best to cancel these matches too.
Although, the Premier League cannot afford to postpone these matches, as there is no midweek or weekend availability for the foreseeable future.
All postponed matches are likely to take place next year, but when, isn’t clear yet. With scheduled Carabo Cup and FA Cup matches, it will be difficult to fit these games in at the start of the year. Although, teams that have been knocked out of these competitions may be able to use this free space.
The Premier League can rearrange these matches for teams that are not included in any European matches, during the week when these matches are played. However, in 2013 the PL was fined £1.1 million by UEFA for doing a similar thing. Although, these UEFA ‘laws’ have been relaxed in recent years due to all the different circumstances going on.
As knock stages get closer for cups such as the FA or Carabao, it could open more opportunities for these teams to play these postponed matches, but teams that are able to last longer in the cups will struggle to find a date.
Overall, it is unclear when these games will be rearranged and now some of this weekend's games have been as well is creating even more congestion for the league.
All football fans hope that this is sorted out soon and hope to get some answers from the leagues themselves, even if it is just to do with the games taking place this weekend!
Credit: SkySports
