Premier League: Why is there only one match on Sunday?

Only one Premier League match will be played on Sunday due to the resulting fixture congestion Crystal PalaceRun in cup competitions.

Eight matches are scheduled to be played on Saturday, one on Sunday and the other on Monday.

The final round of league stage matches took place on Thursday, with Palace drawing 2-2 against Finnish side Kops.

Oliver Glasner’s team had requested to play in the European match the day before, but the request was rejected by UEFA on the grounds that transferring him would jeopardize the integrity of the competition.

This means the UEFA Cup quarter-final match against Arsenal will be postponed by a week until Tuesday 23 December.

Everton’s home match against Arsenal and Palace’s trip to Leeds were originally selected as Sunday matches shown on Sky Sports. But the English Premier League agreed to postpone the two matches to Saturday at the request of the London clubs.

Both matches will remain on TV, but will kick off simultaneously at 20:00 GMT.

The Premier League statement said: “Player welfare is a priority for the Premier League, which is why we have agreed to requests from Arsenal and Crystal Palace to broadcast their matches.”

“This comes after matches from other competitions were scheduled around Premier League fixtures without sufficient player recovery time.

“This is also further evidence of the impact of expanded UEFA competitions on the domestic fixture schedule,” they added.