Southampton's trip to Villa Park on Friday night could be one of the fixtures that is postponed, purely because it is a televised game and Sky TV might not have enough trucks available ahead of the State Funeral on Monday.

According to the local media in Birmingham, the Aston Villa V Southampton game is in doubt on Friday evening, even if the Premier League announce that fixtures can go ahead, it was assumed that some games in London might still be postponed with the capital needing all its Police manpower for the build up to the funeral on Monday, indeed Arsenal’s Europa League tie with PSV this week has already being postponed, but in general it was thought that most of the games outside of the capital would proceed.

However that may not be the case, Sky TV who will be providing extensive coverage over the next week may not have enough trucks and outside broadcast units available to be able to televise the game at Villa Park.

Sky Sports, meanwhile, are also due to show Spurs vs Leicester on Saturday (5.30pm) as well as two other games in London on Sunday: Brentford vs Arsenal (2pm) and Chelsea vs Liverpool (4.30pm). All three games are, though, in serious doubt while it’s understood 10,000 officers will be in London across the weekend to oversee security in the capital ahead of the funeral.

With police forces all around the country not only on high alert, but also supplying reinforcements to the met in the immediate time leading to the funeral, Sunday’s match between Manchester United and Leeds is also in serious jeopardy given the level of policing required in and around Old Trafford.

In terms of Villa and Southampton, it is hoped that fixture will be given the go-ahead. , Midland's media outlet BirminghamLive says they understand that West Midlands Police have enough resources to police Friday’s fixture and are happy for it to proceed, however it may be scuppered by Sky TV not having the resources available, a hard pill for both sets of supporters to swallow given the inconvenience of it being moved to a Friday, I would say that with 40,000 tickets sold, that the game should still proceed even if it can't be televised.

Photo: Action Images

derbydog added 16:19 - Sep 12 It has to be televised for foreign markets. It’s not really a truck problem either, its staffing. Sky uses around 25 cameras, plus other technical staff many of whom are providing wall to wall Queenie coverage this week. It will be hard to get this game on.
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