Ruben Amorim could be given something Jose Mourinho complained about at Manchester United

For the supporters, it is yet another unsociable away day following Manchester United. When they head to Stamford Bridge on a Friday night in May, it will continue a theme of kick-offs in London or the south coast that don't offer much help for travelling supporters.

Since March 30 last year, it will be the seventh evening kick-off in London, covering six different nights. They played at Crystal Palace on a Bank Holiday Monday night, Arsenal on a Wednesday night, Tottenham and Chelsea on a Thursday night, Chelsea again on a Friday night, Brentford on a Saturday night and Fulham on a Sunday night. It sounds like a badly reworked Craig David song.

Then there were the 12.30pm kick-offs at Brighton and Southampton earlier this season, requiring a wake-up at unseemly hours to make it to the south coast for kick-off. United are almost always on TV and that usually means inconveniencing their supporters.

So it is on Friday, May 16, when they will head to the capital for another match under the lights at Stamford Bridge. With the FA Cup final the following day, and the women's FA Cup final between Chelsea and United on the Sunday, it was the only plausible spot in the calendar.

But there could be an upside for United. The penultimate round of Premier League games is the weekend before the Europa League final in Bilbao on Wednesday, May 21. Reaching the showpiece game would allow Ruben Amorim's side a big build-up into the final.

Even if Amorim had made 11 changes, playing the game on Sunday would have been an inconvenience. This will allow a five-day build-up during which the focus is entirely on the final, with the whole squad available to train and plan for their opposition.

Firstly, United must reach the Europa League final by beating Athletic Bilbao - who have an obvious incentive of their own - in the semi-final. If they do that, they might be grateful to the Premier League for a Friday night slot.

It will be an improvement on the last time United reached the Europa League final. In 2017, they played the final Premier League game of the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday and then beat Ajax in Stockholm on Wednesday. It didn't hurt their chances, but neither was it an ideal scenario.

Earlier in that campaign, Mourinho had railed against the Premier League for refusing to help teams prepare for European assignments. That was ahead of a quarter-final with Anderlecht, but it's been a recurring theme in the years since for clubs as well.

“I don’t understand why we don’t receive any help from the Premier League in relation to European football,” Mourinho said. “We now have to play Middlesbrough at 12 o’clock on Sunday. Why? It should be Monday night or at least the last game on Sunday. Every other country gives its support to teams playing in Europe but I don’t think the Premier League gives an ‘S’.

“When I was in Italy, if you had a Champions League game coming up, you could move your league match the previous weekend to Friday night,” Mourinho added. “In Portugal a team playing on the Wednesday in Europe could play its next domestic game on the Monday. This never happens here and it makes no sense. Nobody can give me an explanation of why we are playing this Sunday at 12 o’clock.

“I get the idea that the Premier League just expects everyone to be grateful for all the money it makes. But with a little common sense things could be better for everyone. Aren’t we good enough in the Premier League to have more teams in Europe at this stage? I don’t ask for me but for all the English teams. Is the Premier League happy to have just one English club in the Champions League and one in the Europa League?"

Now, Amorim's United could use Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to focus entirely on a game that will define their season if they get there. Preparation time for a game of this magnitude is vital, as Amorim has made clear all season in his desire for more time on the training ground.

If United progress to face Tottenham, who play Bodo/Glimt in the other semi-final, the advantage will be even clearer. While United play on Friday night, Spurs don't face Aston Villa until Sunday afternoon. It's a 36-hour head start in planning for an all-Premier League final.

Should that scenario play out, then you can expect plenty of anger and frustration from Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham. There's a long way to go yet and two difficult semi-finals to be won, but there's no doubt United would also have an advantage ahead of a potential final.

It could be an ideal scenario, but to truly make it count, they will have to see off Athletic at the start of May.