Arsenal and Crystal Palace’s Carabao Cup quarter-final clash is currently scheduled to take place on December 23, just two days after both teams faced Everton and Leeds respectively in the Premier League.
Crystal Palace have been dealt another blow in their quest to find a suitable date for next month’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal.
The clash was originally scheduled for December 16th, but is now scheduled to take place on December 23rd.
However, Oliver Glasner and Mikel Arteta have made it clear that they are strongly opposed to the EFL’s latest proposal, as the rescheduled match will take place just two days after their respective Premier League away fixtures at Leeds and Everton on December 21st.
Palace and Arsenal are understood to have submitted a formal request to the Premier League board to move their top-flight match forward to Saturday, December 20, giving players an extra day of rest.
Amid these discussions, Mirror Football revealed that UEFA’s request for the Eagles’ final Conference League group game against Finland’s KuPS (scheduled for December 18th) to be postponed to Wednesday December 17th has also been refused.
UEFA insists that all 18 final Conference League group phase games must kick off on the same day and at the same time (8pm).
read more: England team announces major decision for Thomas Tuchel’s Jude Bellinghamread more: Arsenal and Crystal Palace make request to Premier League amid match chaos
This decision is a major setback for Palace. They already face the difficult task of convincing the Premier League to reschedule the game against Leeds. That’s because even if the trip to Elland Road is brought forward to Saturday 20th December, there will still be 48 hours less time to prepare for the match.
Meanwhile, EFL officials do not expect any further changes to the quarter-final schedule, with Arsenal vs. Palace expected to go ahead as planned on December 23.
Premier League leaders feel that the fiasco was a result of the recent expansion of UEFA competitions, and that the top flight fixture schedule for that weekend had already been agreed before the Carabao Cup schedule.
Everton and Leeds have also asked for clarity regarding home matches between Arsenal and Leeds, as prolonged uncertainty would be inconvenient for supporters wishing to attend the games.
Palace are currently expected to play four games in nine days next month. The grueling campaign begins with a match against Manchester City on December 14, ahead of the visit of KuPS and trips to Leeds and Arsenal.
Ahead of his team’s 3-1 win over AZ Alkmaar, Glasner slammed football authorities for not prioritizing player welfare.
“It’s not about player welfare. It’s not about talking together and finding the best thing. Everyone is just looking at themselves to maximize their money,” the Austrian said.
“That’s the situation. Now we can say this is the UEFA schedule. It was clear that the Conference League was going to be played this week before Christmas. It’s 99 per cent clear that the English participants will be playing there. So why fix the Carabao quarter-finals there? Why? I don’t understand it. Again, it was obvious.”
“Then maybe someone will correct me, but I think there are classes in football. So it’s a UEFA game, it’s a Premier League game, I don’t know if it’s the FA or the EFL or if it’s at the same level. And if there’s a UEFA game day, I can’t say we’ll play the quarter-finals.”
Ahead of the trip to Sunderland, Arteta said he was confident the Premier League would intervene to prevent Arsenal and Palace from facing each other twice in just three days.
The Spaniard said: “Well, I’m very optimistic that it won’t happen, because from all angles, whether it’s the Premier League, the EFL, UEFA, all we’re always talking about is the welfare of the players and the supporters, and if we want to maintain that principle, that can’t happen and we can’t play on Sunday and Tuesday.
“So we are in very positive discussions with the clubs and the Premier League and we would like to find ways to help as much as possible if possible. We may not be able to help 200 people who have a problem, so we can’t say whether we can help 100 or not. What about the other 100? No, no, no. If I could help 100 people and 100 other people, I’d like you to do that next time.’ Well, I think we need to be very thorough and we can’t allow ourselves to be in that situation. ”
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