A bomb disposal team carried out a controlled explosion on the suspect device – later described as not viable – after the 75,000-seat stadium was evacuated.

The rescheduled game makes it a busy week for United who play in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace four days later.

A statement from the Premier League said: “We would like to thank Manchester United’s staff, the police and other emergency services for all their efforts today as well as rearranging the match for this coming Tuesday [UK time].”

Police had earlier investigated the package and used sniffer dogs to search the area, before calling in an army bomb disposal unit.

“Bomb disposal experts carried out controlled explosion at Old Trafford on what is described as incredibly lifelike explosive device,” Greater Manchester Police said on Twitter.

“Full assessment now concluded and found device wasn’t viable. A full search of the stadium is ongoing.”

Manchester United had said in a statement on their website the package had been found in the North West Quadrant, and the match abandoned on police advice.

“We don’t make these decisions lightly and we have done this today to ensure the safety of all those attending,” assistant chief constable John O’Hare said in a statement.

United, currently in sixth place, cannot qualify for next season’s Champions League but are guaranteed a place in the Europa League.

A draw against Bournemouth would be enough to move them up one place, overhauling Southampton.

Manchester City secured fourth place and Arsenal overhauled their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur to finish second.

Manchester City drew 1-1 at Swansea City, Arsenal crushed Aston Villa 4-0 and Spurs capitulated 5-1 at 10-man Newcastle United to blow their chance of finishing above their neighbours for the first time since 1995.

“First of all I would like to apologise to our fans,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said.

“I think they don’t deserve all that happened today on the pitch and I apologise.”

Champions Leicester City drew 1-1 at Chelsea to end the campaign 10 points ahead of the chasing pack, another staggering achievement in a remarkable season for Claudio Ranieri’s team.

Manchester City needed a point to make sure of claiming the final Champions League qualifying spot but their game at Swansea started in a strange atmosphere caused by the events at Old Trafford.

City made the perfect start when Kelechi Iheanacho fired them ahead after five minutes.

Swansea equalised on the stroke of halftime through Andre Ayew’s deflected free kick and the visitors endured a few nervy moments in Manuel Pellegrini’s last match in charge before celebrating the point they needed.

“Well into this season we were well in the title race, but we let ourselves down, we will take positives of a trophy and semi-final of the Champions League, which was history for our club,” City goalkeeper Joe Hart said.

Spurs, Leicester’s closest challengers in the last few weeks, endured a dismal afternoon at relegated Newcastle.

Georginio Wijnaldum and Aleksandar Mitrovic put the hosts 2-0 up at halftime before Erik Lamela pulled one back.

Mitrovic was shown a straight red card for a dangerous foul but Wijnaldum scored his second from the penalty spot and Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat completed the scoring at a disbelieving St James’ Park.

Arsenal took an early lead against relegated Villa through Olivier Giroud and the French striker added two late goals to complete his hat-trick before Mark Bunn’s stoppage-time own goal completed the rout.

Arsene Wenger’s side finished in the top two for the first time since 2005 after a difficult campaign in which the French manager has been heavily criticised.

“We kept our togetherness and that is part of the DNA of this club,” said Wenger, who led his team into the Champions League for the 19th consecutive season.

“We kept fighting until the end. Many big teams finished outside the top four this year.”

Cesc Fabregas’s second-half penalty for Chelsea looked set to condemn Leicester to only their fourth defeat of the season but Danny Drinkwater rescued a point for the champions with a stunning long-distance strike.

Southampton climbed to fifth with a 4-1 victory over FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace and West Ham United’s hopes of a top-six finish ended following a 2-1 loss at Stoke City.

-Reuters