Manchester City will face Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad on Wednesday, five nights after they were scheduled to play them.
It seemed too good to be true, and it turns out that it was – albeit for circumstances outside of Manchester City’s control.
The Blues had already blasted their way back from the jaws of defeat to beat one of their bogey sides when they downed Crystal Palace last month. And the fixtures and the formbook were aligning to mean Pep Guardiola could also have denied his biggest irritant Tottenham just seven matches into the Premier League season.
Antonio Conte’s team has looked excellent so far this season after a terrific summer transfer window, and ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham’ does have a very different meaning at the Etihad than it did for Sir Alex Ferguson’s United. But, with Erling Haaland smashing in his 11th and 12th goals in seven games during a 4-0 win over Sevilla, City had every right to be confident that this could be a prime opportunity to put Spurs to the sword and send a message to the rest of the Premier League.
Instead, they will simply be training this weekend behind closed doors after the Premier League decided to postpone the upcoming set of fixtures following the death of the Queen. With the funeral set to be in the not-too-distant future, next weekend’s games are also in doubt owing more to logistical rather than sentimental reasons.
There are many more people to feel sorry for in the postponements than a super-rich Premier League football club: once again, tens of thousands of supporters and workers up and down the country will be left out of pocket by the late decision and too much food that will already have been set for this weekend will be wasted. In a cost-of-living crisis, such snap decisions will really hurt.
But if there can’t be too large a violin for Guardiola and his players, canceling one and potentially two league fixtures would see them lose the momentum they have built. The city has started the season in bright fashion while Liverpool – the team expected to challenge them for the title – really hasn’t.
After losing 4-1 in Naples, Jurgen Klopp faced a real battle to regroup his players for the next two game weeks whereas City was looking to continue their form. The margins could be significant at the end of an unprecedented season given the winter World Cup.
The city can at least do what they are not used to doing and thank UEFA, given their home match against Dortmund on Wednesday will go ahead as scheduled. The fixture will keep the players in the rhythm of playing with each other, and victory will see them take charge of the group ahead of a doubleheader with Copenhagen after the international break.
If there aren’t any more opportunities to make Premier League progress before the last pre-World Cup break, at least the Blues have the chance to kick on in Europe.
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