Chelsea's Terry and Mikel challenge Manchester United's Berbatov during their English Community Shield soccer match at Wembley Stadium in London.
Chelsea's Terry and Mikel challenge Manchester United's Berbatov during their English Community Shield soccer match at Wembley Stadium in London. Reuters

The postponed Premier League fixture between power houses Chelsea and Manchester United has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 1, albeit provisionally.

The match, which was supposed to be played out on December 19, at Stamford Bridge, was postponed after freezing temperatures and snowfall raised concerns about the safety of the public.

However, the new date is subject to certain conditions which involve neither team being required to play an FA Cup fifth-round replay.

If both teams are out of the competition before the fifth-round, the tie could be played out on an earlier Cup weekend instead.

Manchester United will be involved in a Boxing Day fixture against Sunderland at Old Trafford, while Chelsea travel to Arsenal a day later. With the fixtures coming thick and fast, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has voiced his disappointment over the timing of the match against Bolton which comes barely two days after his team play Arsenal. Meaning Chelsea are at a disadvantage having one day less to recover (Bolton play on the 26th against West Brom).

The Italian said, I want to say something about the Bolton game because we won't have the possibility to recover. We'll have two days, compared to Bolton who, unfortunately, plays on the 26th. We play on the 27th. That's not a good thing, to have one day less to recover. I'm not happy about that.

The consequences of these few days of Premier League football, going into the new year, could prove to be decisive in where the trophy ends up.

Soccer