Sky Sports and the Premier League had announced in February that the game between Chelsea and Manchester United would be screened at 5.30pm when it was still highly possible for United to be involved in one of the FA Cup semi-finals. Had that happened, the FA Cup would have taken priority and the Chelsea match would almost certainly have been rescheduled for live coverage on a weekday evening. There is a theory, then, that Sky chose the Manchester United and Chelsea game in the knowledge that there was a good chance that the fixture would have to be moved until later in the season. The BBC and FA clearly then decided that they should not back away from the prime-time Saturday evening slot just because Sky had scheduled their highest profile game of the season at that time.