After the postponement of this weekend's English football calendar, Manchester United moved quickly to initiate discussions over their trip to Moldova next week, with Friday night bringing confirmation the Europa League group game will go ahead.
Football is an outlier as far as sport is concerned this weekend, with the programme having been pulled as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. United had been due to travel to London to face Crystal Palace on Sunday.
They will now have a free weekend before embarking on the lengthy trip to Chisinau next week and a game against Sheriff Tiraspol that has taken on extra importance after the opening week of Europa League fixtures.
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United were beaten at Old Trafford by Real Sociedad on Thursday night, while Sheriff won 3-0 in Cyprus against Omonia Nicosia. Erik ten Hag's team should still ease through this group, but if they are to stumble then it's the Moldovan side who will put pressure on them.
How Ten Hag approaches this game may well depend on what happens to next week's football calendar. At the moment there is only speculation around that schedule, with the date for the funeral yet to be confirmed and issues around policing unclear.
But if those matches were all to fall by the wayside it would leave United without a Premier League fixture from September 4 to October 2, when they travel to the Etihad for the first derby of the season.
There is an international break to come but that is a long time without a league fixture and there is the chance of what Ten Hag would consider his strongest XI losing rhythm and momentum. So how he approaches next week's game will almost certainly be conditioned by whether the game against Leeds the following Sunday is on.
If that game goes ahead then widespread changes are likely again, perhaps even more than the six against Real Sociedad last week, with the long trip to Moldova taken into account. There could be starts again for Casemiro and Cristiano Ronaldo, given they struggled to make an impact last week.
But if this turns out to be United's only game before the derby that might be a temptation for Ten Hag to field his strongest XI, giving them another run out before that crucial game. That could mean starts for Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane in a stronger defence.
It might also mean Scott McTominay starting ahead of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes linking up again in midfield. Further forward Ten Hag might be keen to play Marcus Rashford, having left him out last Thursday, especially with the forward unlikely to be in the England squad for this international break.
The fixture in Moldova has already become a little more important for United after their opening day defeat. Whether it takes place three days before playing Leeds, or if it proceeds a more than two-week gap to the next league, could well affect what sort of team Ten Hag picks.
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