Arsenal men’s match forces women’s team to reschedule

Arsenal’s League Cup match against Crystal Palace has been confirmed, with the Women’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich moving to accommodate it.

Arsenal have confirmed that their League Cup quarter-final game against Crystal Palace will take place on Wednesday, December 18th, with a kick-off time of 19:30 GMT.

There had been a scheduling conflict with the Arsenal Women, who were due to play at the stadium for a Women’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich on the same night, but it appears that the Women’s game has been moved.

Arsenal write that they’re “liaising with UEFA”, and that “further details regarding our UEFA Women’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich will be announced in due course”.

Palace have a derby game against Brighton the previous Sunday, a fixture which has been selected for TV coverage. With the Arsenal Women playing at the Emirates on Wednesday, that created an issue.

If the League Cup game was scheduled for the Thursday, that would give both clubs less than 48 hours to prepare for their Premier League clash on Saturday.

But if the game took place on Tuesday, Palace would only have two days to recover from the Brighton game.

That also wouldn’t solve the clash with the women’s game, as UEFA rules require Arsenal to give their opponents the chance to use the stadium the day before the game. Bayern wouldn’t be able to use the stadium if the Arsenal men were playing against Crystal Palace that day.

Wednesday was certainly the best outcome for the two men’s teams, but it now raises questions about what happens with the women’s match.

UEFA restrictions prevent the game being played at Meadow Park, and tickets had already gone on sale to fans hoping to attend at the Emirates.

It’s far from an ideal situation, and it must be frustrating for the women’s team to have to reorganise their game when it was in the calendar first.