The four Premier League clubs involved in the knockout stages of the Champions League are facing fixture horror after the latest European draws.
Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea discovered who they will face in the last 16 of the Champions League on Monday, shortly before Manchester United were drawn against Barcelona in the Europa League knockout play-off round. UEFA subsequently confirmed their schedule for the two legs of the last-16 fixtures, with Spurs and Chelsea in action on alternate midweeks to Liverpool and City.
This was a disastrous outcome for the four clubs, as it means Chelsea versus Liverpool and City vs Spurs cannot be rescheduled for a free midweek in February or March, when the last-16 ties are due to take place. The aforementioned Premier League fixtures were postponed following the death of the Queen in September.
The fact that the relevant clubs have been scheduled for European commitments on alternate midweeks to the team they need to face domestically means there are no natural slots in the schedule to relocate the postponed games to. As explained by ESPN, United are also facing a similar nightmare.
The Red Devils could only manage a 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad on Thursday, condemning them to a Europa League knockout play-off. They will face Barca over two legs in February, so they have no natural options to reschedule their top-flight clashes with Crystal Palace and Leeds to.
Every other midweek for the second half of the season is occupied by FA Cup or Carabao Cup dates, or earmarked for European competition. There are some midweeks which appear to be free, but these are reserved for Premier League fixtures which will be displaced by the Carabao Cup final and FA Cup quarter-finals and semi-finals.
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Schedulers will be scratching their heads over how to fit in all the fixtures which need to be played between now and the end of the domestic season at the start of June. It is likely they will hold off making a decision until after the third and fourth rounds of the Carabao Cup play out, with the latter scheduled to take place between the end of the World Cup and Christmas Day.
One solution to the headache could be cancelling FA Cup replays in the third and fourth rounds, as was the norm in coronavirus-impacted seasons. To help further, Carabao Cup semi-finals could be reduced to one leg instead of the regular two.
Two things are for certain: Premier League chiefs will be rueing UEFA's scheduling of the Champions League last-16 ties, and United will be lamenting their failure to top their Europa League group.
