Arsenal will face Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth round of FA Youth Cup on Thursday, January 17th, and the club have changed their usual ticketing policy for the fixture.

Those of you who attended the previous FA Youth Cup game against Northampton Town will know that the ticketing policy for the fixture was non-existent. Anyone could turn up and sit in the stands without having to buy tickets. However, for the game against Tottenham Hotspur in the next round, the club are being much more strict.

As with the 3rd round, the game will be played at Meadow Park (Boreham Wood FC). The game is all ticket, and tickets can only be purchased in advance, not on the gates as is often the case. The tickets are only available to members who renewed or joined before January 1st 2019, and they won’t go on general sale.

The reason for all of this is presumably the increased security risk of a derby game. Boreham Wood want to be able to segregate supporters, which they can only do by ensuring that only long-standing Arsenal members can sit in the Arsenal end.

The club don’t want Tottenham fans signing up for Arsenal memberships now, to buy tickets in the wrong end and cause trouble. Presumably Tottenham Hotspur direct will have similar procedures in place for selling tickets in the away section.