FA Cup early round replays could be scrapped to accommodate postponed Chelsea games
According to Mail Sport (h/t Football.London), the replays of early rounds of the FA Cup could be scrapped in order to accommodate the postponed Premier League games this month, which include two of Chelsea due to the death of the Queen.
In the aftermath of the death of the Queen, the Premier League suspended all the scheduled games last weekend. Although the league returns to action this coming weekend, three games are postponed due to a lack of police availability. One of which is the Chelsea-Liverpool encounter at Stamford Bridge.
With the calendar already congested for the rest of this year due to the winter World Cup in Qatar, there is no free midweek to accommodate the postponed games in 2022. In fact, the first free weekend is on January 17.
While every game in every competition has its own importance, it is believed that the replays of the early rounds of the FA Cup can be seen as an expendable part of the calendar.
The replays were scrapped in the last two seasons due to fixture congestion and Covid-19. So, it won’t be a massive change for it to happen this season as well.
Good thing is that Chelsea’s Champions League game against RB Salzburg goes ahead on Wednesday, otherwise accommodating a postponed European game before the World Cup would have caused havoc for the Blues and their schedule.
Sensible minds would prevail if the FA agrees to scrap their competition’s replays to ease up little pressure on the footballing calendar.
More Chelsea News:
- Chelsea are tipped to sign Brighton star Leandro Trossard in January
- Chelsea and Manchester United line up a move for Wolves recruitment chief Matt Hobbs
- Thomas Tuchel advised Chelsea starlet Billy Gilmour to join Graham Potter’s Brighton in the summer
For Chelsea, having another free weekend with no game against Liverpool is an advantage for new manager Graham Potter to work with the squad and impart his tactical knowledge. Their next league game would now be away against Crystal Palace on the first of October.