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SEMI DELAY

Why are Manchester United playing their EFL Cup semi-final second-leg against Hull City on a Thursday?

United make the trip to the KCom Stadium tonight defending 2-0 first-leg lead with Wembley place up for grabs

Manchester United and Hull face each other in the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on Thursday

MANCHESTER UNITED take on Hull in the semi-final of the EFL tonight - after the match was shifted to a Thursday night.

United take a 2-0 lead into the second leg at the KCom Stadium thanks to goals from Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini in the first game at Old Trafford.

Manchester United and Hull face each other in the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on Thursday
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Manchester United and Hull face each other in the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on ThursdayCredit: PA:Press Association

But in a break with tradition the match to decide who will make it to the Wembley final will be played later than normal.


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SunSport gives you the lowdown on why the second leg has been switched to a Thursday.

Why is Hull City vs Manchester United being played tonight?

When the draw for the EFL Cup semi-finals were made, the dates for the second leg matches had been scheduled to be  Tuesday 24 January and Wednesday 25 January.

But officials have been forced to switch the dates because two of the sides in the last four - Hull and Southampton - we involved in Premier League matches last Sunday.

Both clubs saw their league fixtures moved back a day to accommodate the demands of television, with Sky showing Saints beating Leicester 3-0 and Hull's defeat at Chelsea.

Juan Mata opens the scoring for Manchester United in the first leg against Hull
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Juan Mata opens the scoring for Manchester United in the first leg against HullCredit: PA:Press Association

That meant either Southampton or Hull would have been asked to play their semi-final second leg on a Tuesday, less than 48 hours after they had last played.

So it was decided to move the date of one of the matches to Thursday 26 January to allow both teams adequate time to prepare.

In order to allow the game to be moved, the FA had to sanction both Hull and United playing their FA Cup fourth round matches on Sunday to avoid any further clashes.

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