Manchester United face a Premier League fixture pile-up after reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, following Wednesday night's 3-1 win over West Ham United at Old Trafford.
United, who will resume their league campaign with a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on Sunday after three successive cup matches, secured their place in the last-eight with a late rally against the Hammers. After falling behind to Said Benrahma's 54th-minute opener, the Reds scored three times in the closing stages to book a quarter-final date with Fulham later this month.
An own-goal from Hammers defender Nayef Aguerd brought them level with 13 minutes of normal time left on the clock, ahead of Alejandro Garnacho and Fred scoring late on to prevent extra time and the prospect of a penalty shootout. Their reward for beating the Hammers is a quarter-final showdown with Fulham at Old Trafford.
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Although a date for that fixture is yet to be officially announced, it is almost certain that it will be staged on Sunday, March 19, just three days after the second leg of United's Europa League last-16 tie with Real Betis in Spain. United were originally scheduled to face Brighton on March 19 but both sides have reached the FA Cup quarter-finals.
It means that a new date will be required for the Amex Stadium clash, though there is very little wiggle room for that fixture to be rescheduled. If United progress from their Europa League tie with Betis and reach the quarter-finals they will not have a free midweek slot to face the Seagulls in April.
To complicate matters further, should United progress from their FA Cup quarter-final with Fulham and reach the semi-finals, their scheduled Premier League meeting with Chelsea at Old Trafford on Saturday, April 22 would also be postponed. As a side note, that fixture would also need to be rescheduled, most likely pushed back to the Sunday of that weekend if United are still in the Europa League. The second leg of their quarter-final in that competition would be played on Thursday, April 20.
Again, if the Reds reach both the Europa League quarter-finals and the FA Cup semi-finals, their Wembley trip would have to take place on Sunday, April 22, with all Europa League matches, of course, taking place on Thursday evenings.
The congestion is compounded further by King Charles' coronation, which is taking place over the weekend of May 6 and 7. Currently, United are scheduled to face West Ham at the London Stadium in the league on Saturday, May 6 at 3:00pm. The coronation will take place on the same day, meaning there is unlikely to be any football staged in England on that date. The final days of the Championship, League One and League Two seasons have already been moved to the Sunday and Monday of that weekend, respectively, as a result.
Therefore, the congestion, should United continue to progress in both the Europa League and the FA Cup, promises to be unprecedented. In the event of Erik ten Hag's side being knocked out of the Europa League by Betis in the next round, however, United's trip to Brighton could be rearranged to take place in a midweek slot in either the week commencing April 10 or 17 - the weeks when the Europa League quarter-finals are set to take place.
On the flip side, however, if United defeat Betis, their Europa League quarter-final will be staged over two legs on April 13 and 20, meaning they would not be able to play the clash with the Seagulls in either of the two aforementioned slots. That means their trip to the Amex may not be played until either the weeks commencing May 1 or 22.
United are currently scheduled to play four weekend fixtures in May and the Europa League semi-finals will take place on May 11 and 18, leaving just two free midweek slots before the final day of the Premier League campaign on May 28. The FA Cup final takes place the following weekend on Saturday, June 3.
If United reach the FA Cup semi-finals but don't reach the Europa League semi-finals, their rearranged clash with Chelsea at Old Trafford could take place in either the week commencing May 8 or May 15. In the event of them reaching the Europa League semi-finals, however, the next available midweek slot to face Chelsea might not be until the week commencing May 22, presuming the Brighton game is staged in the week commencing May 1.
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