END-OF-SEASON SHOWDOWN RULED OUT

The Premier League have ruled out any prospect of Chelsea meeting Manchester United in a title showdown after the final day's fixtures have been completed on May 13.

With both clubs advancing to the FA Cup semi-finals last night, their scheduled league clash on April 15 at Stamford Bridge has now been postponed.

For Chelsea in particular, this represents a problem because Jose Mourinho's men are running out of free dates in the fixture calendar.

With both championship challengers using a free midweek in the middle of next month to play games that have had to be called off on Easter Monday because of their European commitments, the only spare dates remaining are between the final two games of the season.

However, Chelsea's situation is complicated by Spurs' UEFA Cup quarter-final meeting with Sevilla in Spain on April 5.

Although the La Liga outfit are attempting to get the game moved because of the major religious festival which takes place in the town at that time, if UEFA say no, Tottenham are entitled to ask for their following Premiership game - at Chelsea on the Saturday - to be put back 24 hours.

But with Chelsea due to travel to Spain themselves to face Valencia in the Champions League the following Tuesday, manager Jose Mourinho seems sure to resist the switch, a move which could see that game shifted to the last week of the season as well.

One logical way of solving the logjam, and ensuring Chelsea do not have to play four games in the final week of the campaign, would be for the Premier League to put the United encounter back given the match will affect no-one but the two sides involved.

However, League sources have rejected the idea and insist the season will finish as planned.

Chelsea's fixture pile-up

Sat, March 31 - Watford (a) - Premiership

Wed, April 4 - Valencia (h) - Champions League

*Sat, April 7 - Tottenham (h) - Premiership

Tue, April 10 - Valencia (a) - Champions League

Sun, April 15 - Blackburn (neutral venue) - FA Cup

Wed, April 18 - West Ham (a) - Premiership

Sat, April 21 - Newcastle (a) - Premiership

**Tue/Wed, April 24/25 - Liverpool or PSV Eindhoven - Champs League

Sat, April 28 - Bolton (h) - Premiership

**Tue/Wed, May 1/2 - Liverpool or PSV Eindhoven - Champs League

Sat, May 5 - Arsenal (a) - Premiership

***Tue, May 8 - Manchester United (h) - Premiership

***Thu, May 10 - Tottenham (h) - Premiership

Sun, May 13 - Everton (h) - Premiership

**Sat, May 19 - FA Cup Final (Wembley)

**Wed, May 23 - Champions League Final (Athens)

*Subject to postponement.

**Subject to winning matches in previous round.

***Not yet officially arranged.

I have a solution, give the title to Liverpool

Or, kick Chelsea out of Europe for spending twice as much as even Real Madrid and Man U, thus freeing up a couple of spaces.

Luis wrote:I have a solution, give the title to Liverpool

You have to earn the title, not handed out like a charity.

Rai Krol wrote:

Luis wrote:I have a solution, give the title to Liverpool

You have to earn the title, not handed out like a charity.

It's the only way they'll get it.

Chelsea v Man Utd has been moved to May 9th. So its...

Saturday, 05 May 2007
Arsenal v Chelsea, 15:00
Man City v Man Utd, 15:00

Wednesday, 09 May 2007
Chelsea v Man Utd, 20:00

Sunday, 13 May 2007
Chelsea v Everton, 15:00
Man Utd v West Ham, 15:00

2 away games within 5 days

Good stuff, if we can get to the Chelsea game still 6 points in front the title will already be over.

Yeah that's the downside of the re-arranged fixture list. If we had any chance of beating United to the title, it had to be by hoping they would go on a "bad run" following their defeat to us (assuming we beat them of course).

Now we need to hope 2 of Blackburn, Pompey or Everton take 4 points (I really can't see City getting anything against them, even if it is a local derby)

Rather than play a football match they should have a royal rumble between the two sides

by the way essien and diarra play on the field only vidic would stand a chance

The Premiership is probably the only league that makes an annual mess of organising the fixture list. I can't understand why they can't manage it like Italy and Spain, where most of the time all the teams in the division play the same round of matches in a given weekend.

kas wrote:The Premiership is probably the only league that makes an annual mess of organising the fixture list. I can't understand why they can't manage it like Italy and Spain, where most of the time all the teams in the division play the same round of matches in a given weekend.

Whereas in Spain they play the final league fixtures after the CL final, which is meant to be Europe's showcase end-of-season finale. But yeah, the Spanish are, like, so much better at organising their fixtures...

EPL has 2 cups as well.

Anyway they have fixture congestion as they get further in European competition, easy for the spanish as barca, real etc area already out