Following on from Andy’s earlier post regarding the mayhem caused by the Carling Cup postponements, there’s been a further development with the Villa vs Blackburn tie which appears to offer us fantasy managers some respite.

Villa have unofficially announced Thursday January 14th as the new date for the first leg of their Carling Cup semi with Rovers, leaving the second leg to fall on January 20th. If this is confirmed then Villa and Blackburn will play out their fixtures in gameweek 23. They face Arsenal and Wigan respectively, making all four teams safe for the gameweek.

This would obviously be great news if confirmed, however, while Villa have been quick to nominate next Thursday as the date for the first leg, Rovers have not mentioned this date and are set to offer confirmation tomorrow morning. With a trip to City on Monday, Rovers will face three matches in six days if this date is firmed up. Hardly the news that Big Sam needs after his recent condition.

What’s rather puzzling is that, while Blackburn are apparently being asked to play their first leg on the 14th, Man City have confirmed January 19th as the date of their first leg with United, saving them from the same three games in six days fixture pile-up. As a result, for now we still only have four teams set to sit out gameweek 23 – City, United, Hull and Stoke.