The FA Cup fifth round came to a conclusion on Thursday evening, with Southampton and Chelsea progressing to the last eight of the competition.
The quarter-finals of the FA Cup are set to be staged on the same weekend as Gameweek 29 and there are seven Premier League matches that will be affected by the cup ties.
All of them are expected to be postponed given that an international break follows immediately after the weekend in question.
The fixtures are:
- Burnley v Leicester City
- Crystal Palace v Manchester United
- Liverpool v Chelsea
- Manchester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Sheffield United v Aston Villa
- Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton
- West Bromwich Albion v Everton
That leaves just three top-flight games unaffected by the results of this week’s FA Cup ties.
Barring inclement weather or a COVID outbreak, these matches will go ahead as planned in Gameweek 29:
- Brighton and Hove Albion v Newcastle United
- Fulham v Leeds United
- West Ham United v Arsenal
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
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New dates are awaited for the Gameweek 29 fixtures that are set to be postponed, with four other outstanding matches (Aston Villa v Spurs from Gameweek 18, Aston Villa v Everton from Gameweek 19, Manchester City v Southampton from Gameweek 33 and Fulham v Spurs from Gameweek 33) also still yet to be rearranged.
An announcement from the Premier League could come very soon, given that Gameweek 26 – and its free midweek – is expected to absorb a large chunk of these 11 games currently in the ether.
Aston Villa v Spurs may, in theory, move to Blank Gameweek 29 to increase the number of Premier League fixtures that weekend to four.
Both clubs have been eliminated from the FA Cup and their scheduled Premier League games on the weekend of March 20/21 look set to be postponed.
EARLY THOUGHTS ON BLANK GAMEWEEK 29
Should all of the above pan out as expected – and we are still yet to hear confirmation from the Premier League – then there will be a very small pool of players to choose from in Blank Gameweek 29 whether using the Free Hit chip or otherwise.
Fulham and Leeds have Double Gameweeks before then (the Cottagers in Gameweek 24, the Whites in Gameweek 25), so anyone stocking up on the likes of Patrick Bamford (£6.7m), Raphinha (£5.3m), Stuart Dallas (£4.8m), Alphonse Areola (£4.5m) and Ademola Lookman (£5.0m) will already have a head start in preparing for Gameweek 29.
As will those who own Tomas Soucek (£5.4m), Michail Antonio (£6.7m) et al, although the flip side of being well set for Gameweek 29 without using a Free Hit chip is that it will impact on the ability to maximise returns from the expected Double Gameweek 26, when the likes of West Ham and Leeds will only have one fixture.
Should Aston Villa v Spurs get moved to Blank Gameweek 29, however, then that could significantly aid preparations on both fronts.
