City supporting journalist, Stuart Mathieson, has written in the Evening News that Manchester United have now been handed the advantage because of the postponed matches.

Why? “It will leave City just 72 hours to prepare for the visit to Old Trafford, while United will have had the comparative luxury of putting their feet up for eight days.”

Before the change in timing, United were due to play City between our games against Leeds and Birmingham, and between Burnley and Hull.

The change in matches now means we have to play City in the second leg of League Cup semi-final just four days before we face Arsenal at the Emirates. I struggle to see how this gives us an advantage.

City can play a weakened team against Scunthorpe then their strongest team against United. When do we get to play our weakened team? In a game which decides whether we’re going to Wembley or not or in a game essentially worth six points at the top of the table?

There is also the chance that in the middle of that eight day period when we can “put our feet up” we will play against Hull, with our game having to be rescheduled because of the League Cup change. Neither United or Hull are still in the FA Cup so the weekend that other teams are playing in the Cup, we could play our league fixture, although this is yet to be confirmed, but would put an end to our lengthy rest.

Another issue is that after the bitterly disappointing performance and result against Leeds, United should have been ready to come racing out of the blocks against City, ready to make amends over such a stinging recent defeat.

Both teams have currently got a few injuries, so from that perspective, we both see the benefit from have extra time for them to return.

Read Stuart Mathieson’s “Postponement hands advantage to United“.