Manchester United are set to face punishment from the Premier League after arriving late at White Hart Lane for their game against Tottenham on Sunday.
With the match scheduled to kick off at 4pm, the United team bus was caught up in traffic en route to the stadium and the game was in turn initially pushed back to 4.15pm.
However, further delays eventually saw the decision made to start the game at 4.30pm, and that has broken regulations set by the Premier League.
According to the handbook, any club that delays the kick-off by 15 minutes or less will incur a £5,000 fine, however, given that it was 30 minutes on this occasion, they will be dealt with under the provisions of a different section which calls for a formal disciplinary hearing.
It only serves to add to United’s misery as they collapsed in the second half to fall to a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham, with Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela scoring within the space of six minutes.
In turn, it was a huge blow for United with regards to their pursuit of a top-four finish, as they remain in fifth place and four points adrift of rivals Manchester City with six games remaining this season.
While it is up for debate as to whether or not their late arrival disrupted their focus, it would have been the same scenario for the hosts who were forced to wait.
They seemingly dealt with the situation better and kept their Premier League title hopes alive, while United and Louis van Gaal will now face difficult questions this week, and not for the first time this season.