The Metropolitan Police have tried to blame Arsenal and the Premier League for the postponement of the Chelsea fixture, now set for next month.

Arsenal were originally set to take on Chelsea on Saturday, April 29th at 17:30 BST, following the selection of the game by Sky Sports for a UK broadcast.

But with just 18 days to go until the game, and tickets already sold to fans, the fixture was postponed to Tuesday, May 2nd, at 20:00.

The AST called the postponement “totally unacceptable”, and blasted the “arbitrary and unaccountable decisions” made by the police to reschedule the game.

In response, the Met have released a statement claiming they warned Arsenal and the Premier League that the initial scheduling would be an issue, and that they tried to offer an alternative timeslot on the same day.

The Metropolitan Police statement (via the Mirror) said: “The Met works closely with partners to ensure the safety and security of those attending football matches in London.

“On 2nd February, within 24 hours of being informed of the proposed scheduling of this match, the Met raised an issue with Arsenal Football Club and the Premier League regarding the proposed 17:30hrs kick-off for the Arsenal V Chelsea football match on Saturday 29th April, on the basis that the later weekend kick-off time presents a higher risk of crime, anti-social behaviour and disorder.

“To mitigate these risks, the Met asked for the match to take place at an earlier time on the same day (Saturday 29th April), and our position on this has not changed.

“An Emergency Safety Advisory Group meeting with key partners on 6th February failed to resolve the issue, and following a further meeting on 31st March the suggested earlier kick-off time was declined by Arsenal and the Premier League, who instead decided to reschedule the fixture to the alternative time and date of 20:00hrs on Tuesday 2nd May.”

Arsenal play Manchester City on Wednesday night, less than three days before the initial time of the Chelsea game at 17:30 on Saturday.

The problem with moving the game to 12:30 should be obvious to anyone who has any interest in football, as that change would mean cutting another five hours off an already short recovery time.

It was totally unreasonable to expect Arsenal to accept a 12:30 kick-off, and it was essentially a token gesture from the Met.

They should already know exactly why Arsenal wouldn’t want to disadvantage themselves to suit an arbitrary policing suggestion, in the middle of a title race, for one of their biggest remaining fixtures.

As soon as the Met objected to the 17:30 kick-off, a postponement was inevitable, and they should take responsibility for that.