Chelsea postponement no issue for Manchester United
By Nabil Hassan
Snow caused havoc to weekend football fixtures list
BBC Sport understands Manchester United have no issue over Sunday's game at Chelsea being postponed.
It was called off on Saturday due to heavy snow, but much of it had melted by Sunday and the pitch was fine.
Rio Ferdinand has been critical, but it could have favoured United with Anderson and Nemanaja Vidic doubtful.
He said on Twitter "Did anyone see the Ipswich game? Pitch covered in snow....so how come that game is played and ours is postponed?."
Some Manchester United fans on the BBC's internet forum 606 questioned whether Chelsea, who are having a poor run, had called off the Premier League game to delay playing their in-form opponents.
However, only the match referee, police, the local authorities or the Premier League can call a game off. And the Premier League confirmed that the game was called off, some 27 hours before kick-off at the behest of the police and the local authority.
A Chelsea spokesman confirmed on Monday: "The decision to postpone the game was taken on safety grounds after comprehensive consultations between the club, local authorities and the police.
"A high-profile event of this scale affects an area much wider than Stamford Bridge, and considering the icy conditions forcast, an early decision was taken to ensure the safety of both fans and those staffing the event."
Our football department will have contingency dates in mind and will work closely with the affected clubs
Premier League
The Premier League argues that, had a decision been made on the day, it would have faced criticism from fans who had already travelled from the north west.
In a later tweet, United defender Ferdinand referred to the safety issue. He said: "Safety for fans travelling to the game is the general feedback....I get it tweeps!"
United gained some benefit from the postponement with captain Vidic and midfielder Anderson struggling to be fit, both having been ill. Furthermore, midfielder Paul Scholes is out until the new year.
Chelsea may also have been pleased since Didier Drogba and Michael Essien are struggling to find their best form and Frank Lampard has only recently recovered from injury.
Meanwhile, the Premier League is confident the big freeze will not lead to serious fixture congestion at the end of the season.
606: DEBATE
Was the game called off because Chelsea wanted to get more players back from injury? Chelsea said it was because of snow. I thought Chelsea had underground heating.
les (U14728287)
Eight matches have been postponed due to the weather so far - including two involving United.
But Premier League officials say there are sufficient dates set aside to cope.
A spokesman said: "Our football department will already have contingency dates in mind and will work closely with the affected clubs to get new dates agreed as quickly as possible."
The game between Blackpool and Manchester United at Bloomfield Road has already been rearranged to the last week in January .
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