FA Cup decision could be made as Liverpool and Everton face fixture backlog

FA Cup third and fourth round replays could be scrapped for this season as clubs attempt to reschedule postponed fixtures, according to the Times .

Clubs already faced an unprecedented level of fixture congestion for the 2022/2023 campaign due to the six-week hiatus that will come with the Qatar World Cup, and schedules became more complex when last weekend’s football was cancelled, following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

Liverpool’s planned trip to face Chelsea on Sunday has also been called off due to policing concerns, alongside Manchester United vs Leeds and Brighton vs Crystal Palace - Everton’s game against West Ham on Sunday will go ahead at the slightly later time of 2.15pm.

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Premier League teams already have a packed schedule ahead of them - the next free midweek for Champions League teams is mid-January - and the cancellation of two more games for several teams will cause huge headaches within the Premier League.

One of the suggestions mooted is to scrap replays during rounds three and four of the FA Cup, as happened during the previous two seasons due to fixture congestion associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. Premier League sides come into the competition in the third round at the turn of the year.

Several postponements over the last week have risked the schedule descending into chaos, with Arsenal facing bit issues over their Europa League clash with PSV Eindhoven - due to be played on Thursday but cancelled for policing issues - as there are currently no free matchdays before the group stage is due to finish.

This weekend’s fixtures are the last domestic games before another weekend without league football as teams breakaway for a round of Nations League ties.

Liverpool’s Champions League tie against Ajax tonight will go ahead as planned.

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