Premier League football back this weekend; some games already postponed

Update (3pm ET): The Premier League has announced the postponement of Manchester United’s game against Leeds and Liverpool’s visit to Chelsea this weekend. Those two games join Arsenal’s Europa League tie at home to PSV (Thursday) which will be played on a later day too.

In a statement issued by The Football Association on Monday morning, the governing body confirmed the return of British football played at all levels throughout this week.

There are still doubts concerning the viability of the game between Arsenal and Brentfrod—both London-based clubs—but other than that there should be a clean slate of games ahead for all Premier League clubs without any expected postponements happening next weekend.

After the temporary cancelation of last weekend’s games because of the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II, football will be back on the stadiums and televisions of English homes and worldwide broadcasting and streaming services respectively.

There will be, though, a study applied to every game in order to make sure that the necessary measurements can be applied and there are no issues with the Royal funeral taking place next Monday. That is why games such as the one involving Arsenal have still to get the green light ahead of next weekend.

In a related bit of news, the midweek Europa League match between Arsenal and Dutch side PSV (scheduled for Thursday) has been called off. Liverpool’s visit to Chelsea next weekend might also get removed from the slate as the Blues would have to play host to the Reds at Stamford Bridge, also located in London.

To sum up, the games at the peril of getting postponed involve Brentford hosting Arsenal and Tottenham hosting Leicester City. Liverpool vs Chelsea may all be in jeopardy depending on how the situation is in London next weekend.

The Athletics reports that “it has been estimated that 10,000 police officers will be on duty [in London], with the local Metropolitan force’s numbers supplemented by colleagues drafted in from other parts of the UK”. That explains most of the potential organizational issues any other event such as football games could pose for the city and its security forces.

All games taking place on Monday, the day of the funeral, will be irremediably called off no matter the level of play. That doesn’t involve any Premier League match, as there are two games scheduled for next Friday but none for the following Monday this matchday.