Arsenal have drawn Crystal Palace in the League Cup quarter-finals, but the footballing authorities face major problems in scheduling the game.
After a 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion on Wednesday night, Arsenal learned their League Cup quarter-final opponents in a post-match draw.
Once again, Mikel Arteta’s side are set to play at home against Premier League opposition, this time Crystal Palace.
The tie should be played in the week commencing December 15th, the midweek set aside for the quarter-final round, but it’s not going to be easy to fit it in then.
The problem is that Arsenal and Crystal Palace are both involved in European competitions.
Palace are due to have a Europa Conference League match against Shelbourne on Thursday, December 11th, Manchester City on Sunday, December 14th, KuPS on Thursday, December 18th, and Leeds United on Sunday, December 21st.
So there’s no room in the schedule for the League Cup match in the week commencing December 15th – unless Palace play on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, which is three games in five days.
The game can’t move a week earlier due to the Shelbourne match (as well as Arsenal’s match in Bruges), and the following week is Christmas.
In fact, Palace have no spare slots in midweeks or weekends between now and the semi-final first-leg date of January 13th/14th. Arsenal only have one spare slot, that December 16th-17th midweek.
The only obvious solutions are to have multiple games in a short space of time, to play the game on Christmas Eve, or to play the quarter-final on the date of the semi-final and push the semi-final back until later.
It’s another headache for the people in charge of the schedule, and Arsenal will hope it’s solved in a way that doesn’t create further fixture congestion down the road.
From a Gunners perspective, playing the game on December 16th and letting Palace deal with congestion that week is obviously preferable, but both sides will want to protect their own interests.