Why is there no Premier League football this weekend? Top-flight forced into extended break due to new FA rule

Premier League fans are going to be forced to wait even longer for some action as there are no fixtures planned for this weekend. 

Usually, an international break would take place over one week or so before the Premier League returns on the following weekend. 

That has been the case this month, but another schedule change has now extended the gap before a return to top-flight football. 

So that is going to make it two straight weekends without the Premier League and here’s why…

Why is there no Premier League this weekend?

There is no Premier League football this weekend due to the FA Cup. 

The FA Cup has reached the quarter-final stage, with the last eight teams competing for a place at Wembley for the semi-finals. 

Seven of those eight teams are top-flight sides – Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Brighton, Aston Villa and Bournemouth. 

Of course, that leaves plenty of teams to still play in the league, right? 

Well, for the first time, an agreement was made with the FA to have the fourth round, fifth round and quarter-finals played on a weekend with no Premier League clashes. 

It has been the case for the fourth and fifth rounds and now the quarter-finals are going to have their own dedicated couple of days. 

However, that means the Premier League’s return to action has been delayed. 

The first fixtures back will be held on Tuesday, April 1, meaning there will have been a two week gap in the schedule since Leicester hosted Manchester United on March 16. 

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But the break does mean all eyes will be on some huge FA Cup games instead, with a new champion going to be crowned this year. 

As mentioned, there are seven Premier League teams involved in the tournament still. 

Bournemouth will host Man City while Fulham play Crystal Palace, Brighton take on Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa face Championship Preston. 

talkSPORT and talkSPORT.com will keep you up to date with all the latest on all of the FA Cup quarter-finals over the weekend. 

Fulham vs Crystal Palace will be live on talkSPORT for their 12:15pm kick-off on Saturday, with commentary coming from Sam Matterface and Scott Minto. 

Then later that day at 5:15pm, our commentary of Brighton vs Nottingham Forest will come from Jim Proudfoot and Stuart Pearce. 

On Sunday at 1:30pm, Preston vs Aston Villa is on talkSPORT too, while Bournemouth vs Man City is exclusively live with us at 4:30pm. 

Commentary from the south coast will come from Jim Proudfoot and Troy Deeney. 

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