On the morning of the 9 September, the Premier League announced that this weekend's fixtures would all be postponed, as a mark of respect for Queen Elizabeth II, following her passing on Thursday.
With, most notably, rugby and cricket events going ahead this weekend, whether or not the decision was the right one, is open for an endless debate.
It seems as if the seventh round of fixtures will be played at some point in 2023. With the significant difference in situations which many clubs will find themselves in from now, compared to then, it would be interesting to know what would have happened in the league this weekend, had the league decided to have the games go ahead.
With the help of Football Manager 2022 (including an updated database), we simulated this round of Premier League fixtures, in an attempt to get an answer to that question.
Here are the results:
Fulham - Chelsea
The early kick-off on Saturday featured a London derby between Fulham and a newly-led Chelsea.
Graham Potter's first game in charge of The Blues turned out to be a scrappy 1-0 win. The hosts had started the season well, with just two defeats from their opening six games, which came in other London derbies against Arsenal and Tottenham.
The new manager, unsurprisingly, used the three centre-back system which both Chelsea and his former club, Brighton, used most commonly.
After Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang endured a disappointing debut on Tuesday at Dinamo Zagreb, he made amends with a crucial winner on his first Chelsea Premier League appearance. He produced an accurate first-time finish, after Reece James' low cross onto the edge of the keeper's box.
This result put Chelsea into the top four, prior to the other games of the weekend kicking off.
Bournemouth - Brighton
Under an hour after Graham Potter's first win at Chelsea, his former club set about continuing their brilliant start to the season.
Instead, an 18th minute goal from Dominic Solanke seemed to be giving Brighton their second away defeat on the bounce.
With less than ten minutes remaining on the clock, Danny Welbeck was able to earn the visitors a point. He tapped in from close range, after Tariq Lamptey found plenty of space down the right side and provided the forward with an accurate cross.
The draw seemed like the right outcome. Bournemouth also had their chances after going ahead, but a goal and a point was the least that the visitors deserved.
Leicester City - Aston Villa
Leicester City set out to put right their horrendous start to the season. After suffering a 5-2 defeat last weekend, they returned to the King Power Stadium to produce a three-goal win of their own.
Patson Daka's early goal was followed up by Marc Albrighton - replacing the injured Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, providing assists for both Ezri Konsa's own goal and Kelechi Iheanacho's stoppage time strike.
It was a clinical performance from The Foxes. They went level on four points with Aston Villa, with both teams looking for a significant improvement throughout the rest of the season.
Liverpool - Wolves
Liverpool were unable to accelerate their stuttering start to the season. Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah responded swiftly to Matheus Nunes' opening goal for Wolves, however a spectacular chip from Goncalo Guedes made it just two wins from seven for the hosts.
Just outside of the box, Guedes spotted Alisson slightly off his line and went for an ambitious lob over the keeper. His effort was perfect, with the ball clipping the cross bar as it nestled in the back of the net.
Arthur made his first Liverpool start, but it was an underwhelming performance from the summer signing, who seemed fortunate to last the 90 minutes.
In addition to their horror show in Naples on Wednesday night, the hosts need things to change quickly, to prevent this season from fizzling out into a very disappointing one.
Southampton - Brentford
As the clock was about to tick into added time, Ivan Toney was presented with an unlikely meeting with Gavin Bazunu in the Southampton goal. The forward had the chance to get the equaliser, which Brentford had been searching for all afternoon, after Adam Armstrong's early strike. Toney took the ball around the keeper and rolled it into an empty net, giving him his sixth goal of the season and Brentford a well-deserved point.
A smash-and-grab win was not meant to be for the hosts, after a very passive performance. The Bees extended their unbeaten run to four games.
Manchester City - Tottenham
Over the last few seasons, Tottenham have been Manchester City's kryptonite, with City only winning three out of their last seven meetings with the North London club.
This time around, it was a much more comfortable night for the hosts, in the Saturday late kick-off. 28 shots against Tottenham's single attempt reflected Manchester City's dominance and effective resistance to any Spurs counters.
Inevitably, Erling Haaland put the hosts ahead, immediately after the restart - it was a goal which had been coming. After finding a tiny bit of space inside the Tottenham box, Haaland unleashed a vicious strike with his right foot, which nestled in the far corner of Hugo Lloris' goal.
His fellow summer signing, Julian Alvarez, extended City's lead and put the game to bed, shortly after the hour mark.
Arsenal - Everton
A comfortable Sunday afternoon for Arsenal. They bounced back from their first defeat of the season, last weekend, with a confident home win against Everton.
Gabriel Jesus scored either side of the interval to put The Gunners back on top of the Premier League, after Man. City's win against Tottenham meant they were temporarily demoted to second.
With Leicester's result yesterday, Everton became the only team in the league yet to win a game, this season.
West Ham - Newcastle United
What seemed to be a close matchup at the London Stadium, was decided after just the first quarter of an hour of the afternoon.
Early goals from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen put West Ham into a comfortable two-goal lead and it was one which they protected resolutely. For Newcastle's 59% possession, they were unable to create any real chances to get back in the game and would have been left furious with a poor start to the game.
Both teams move level onto seven points. West Ham look to have recovered from their poor start, losing just one of their most recent four games, in addition to their winning start to the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Crystal Palace - Manchester United
A controversial ending to the game at Selhurst Park. Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to get his first goal of the season, completing an unlikely Manchester United comeback.
Crystal Palace took the lead through Jordan Ayew, midway through the second half. The visitors responded with Christian Eriksen's spectacular strike from outside of the box, leaving the game seemingly heading towards a draw.
Ronaldo had the ball in the back of the net, after 88 minutes, but the Palace players were aggrieved by the referee not giving a foul, as the forward challenged both Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi for the header.
The goal was checked by VAR and it was decided that the late winner would stand. A dramatic ending to Sunday's action put Man. United up into third place.
Leeds United - Nottingham Forest
Patrick Bamford's first minute goal set the pace for what turned out to be the match of the week, on Monday evening.
A rocking Elland Road was swiftly silenced, as Taiwo Awoniyi's scruffy finish had the score at 1-1, after just three minutes. Brennan Johnson's penalty then put the visitors into a lead, with Nottingham Forest looking good value for their lead.
From that point on, it was all Leeds. A dominant performance for the rest of the first half was rewarded in the 50th minute - Marc Roca made it goals in back-to-back games for himself. Bamford then got his second of the night, putting the hosts back into the lead.
For all their subsequent possession, the visitors were completely unable to trouble the Leeds defence. The hosts came away with the points, on a Monday night classic.
League Table
