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Match of the Day was cut back to 30 minutes last night after just one Premier League game beat a flurry of Covid postponements.

Highlights of Leeds-Arsenal got exclusivity as Aston Villa-Burnley was called off yesterday afternoon, adding to earlier cancellations of games at Manchester United, Southampton, West Ham and Watford.

Presenter Gary Lineker humorously tweeted that nobody could complain about the show's running order while pundit Danny Murphy revealed the lighter workload had allowed him to do some Christmas shopping before the 5.30pm kick-off at Elland Road. 

Gary Lineker hosted Match of the Day as usual on Saturday but it lasted only for 30 minutes

Arsenal's 4-1 victory at Leeds, in which Bukayo Saka (left) scored, got exclusivity on show

 

'I'd normally get in for midday to begin a 12-hour day but yesterday I was able to nip over to the Lowry Centre, buy a few presents and comfortably get into the studio for four o'clock,' said Murphy.

'It was a bizarre afternoon, sitting around and chatting in the build-up to the one game at Leeds. 

'When the first goal went in, there were cheers of relief all around the office so we'd have something to show.

'To be fair, Leeds always offer entertainment and Arsenal played very well so we had one good game to show, the match of the day!'

Lineker, who said the Villa game was cancelled 'ridiculously late', clarified that there were no contractual limitations to the length of highlights from one match. 

Aston Villa's game against Burnley was called off two hours before kick-off on Saturday