Arsenal and Crystal Palace have been given permission to rearrange their December fixtures away to Everton and Leeds United respectively after the Premier League cited “player welfare” in the decision to give the green light to the clubs’ requests to ease the fixture backlog.
Premier League leaders Arsenal and FA Cup holders Crystal Palace are set to meet in the Carabao Cup quarter-final at the Emirates Stadium on December 23 after the tie was rescheduled from the previous week due to Palace’s UEFA Conference League clash against Finnish side KuPS on December 18.
However, the change of fixture has affected the Premier League commitments of both teams, with Arsenal and Palace set to play crucial league matches just two days before the Carabao Cup tie.
But after the two clubs submitted an appeal to the Premier League requesting that their matches be moved to the weekend, the two teams will now play their matches at 8pm GMT on 20 December, instead of 2pm GMT on 21 December.
The Premier League statement said: “Player welfare is a priority for the Premier League, which is why we have agreed to requests from Arsenal and Crystal Palace to broadcast their matches.” “This comes after matches from other competitions were scheduled around Premier League fixtures without sufficient player recovery time.
He added: “This is also further evidence of the impact of the expanded UEFA competitions on the domestic fixture schedule.
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“The League would like to thank Leeds United and Everton for their cooperation in accommodating these changes.”
Although the switch means Palace will now play two games in three days – a Conference League tie against the Cops followed by the trip to Leeds – the club elected to request the switch in order to allow more time to prepare for the Carabao Cup tie against Mikel Arteta’s side.
