As the winter of our fantasy managers discontent lingers on; much like the folks over at Sporting Life and the brilliant chaps over at the Guardian we thought we would update you on the state of play as to the likelihood of games going ahead.
As can be seen games from the Championship level down have already been majorly hit, and some more may be set to join them. However not all these clubs have the luxury of under-soil heating or the infrastructure to help combat the effects of the weather outside stadia, as well as inside. The rundown (with links provided) so far is as follows…
Hull vs Chelsea – POSTPONED
Hull City have just announced their early afternoon fixture hosting Chelsea will now no longer be able to go ahead as was hoped and planned. The weather conditions once more taking out another fixture.
Arsenal vs Everton
So far no word from the Arsenal camp, only their youth fixture has been called off so far – and that will undoubtedly be on an untenable pitch. Having just postponed a game 2 days ago, one would expect they are making every effort not to have to repeat that.
Burnley vs Stoke – POSTPONED
Burnley have just announced that their tie has also joined the list of weather torn fixtures, and will not go ahead tomorrow as planned. The usual talk about safety reasons are the cause of the disruption.
Fulham vs Portsmouth – POSTPONED
Fulham are the only club in the Premier League hosting a fixture without under-soil heating, and just now word has spread the game has been called off due to the adverse weather conditions.
Sunderland vs Bolton – POSTPONED
Sunderland have just called the fixture off to add another game on the winter scrapheap this weekend. Extreme weather conditions the obvious reason for this. Bolton now have had three fixtures called off due to the weather. Busy schedule ahead – plenty of double gameweeks down the line?
Wigan vs Aston Villa
Wigan seem to be vehemently backing their fixture to go ahead. We can only take them at their word, and rather than other teams using words like confidence and hope the fact that the “Club ensures Villa game goes ahead on Saturday”. The cynic in me asks for odds on this being the first game called off, but we can certainly hold great hope with this one.
Birmingham vs Manchester United
Birmingham are extremely confident that this fixture will be okay to go ahead in front of the ESPN cameras for tomorrows 5:30pm kick-off. For our entertainment purposes if nothing else, let us hope that continues to be the case.
West Ham vs Wolves
As it stands the fixture is all set to go ahead, as per the West Ham camp. However weather forecasts in the area are not the best, so this game could quite easily be called off at a later date. Even after the 11:30am deadline given it being on Sunday afternoon.
Liverpool vs Spurs – POSTPONED
Liverpool had requested to the Premier League for their fixture to be postponed due to safety concerns. That request has now been approved and this fixture has now been postponed as well.
Manchester City vs Blackburn
This game kicks off on Monday evening, so the chance of us getting any kind of word as to whether the game is definitely off or on before the deadline closes will be slim to none. The club are working night and day to keep this fixture alive but with temperatures as low as minus 9 expected along with the odd snow shower. It’s definitely not cut and dry that this will go ahead.
Bar some freak weather, hopefully we should at least hopefully definitively know one way or another (at least with Saturdays fixtures) as to whether they have had the go ahead or not before the deadline closes on us at 11:30am.
As usual, keep your eyes open to Greek Fans wonderful twitter feed, if anything changes I am sure his roving reports will be the first to let you know – and equally so I will do my best to update this report with any more news when it comes in.
For now, fingers and toes are crossed.