The uncertainty over Arsenal’s Carabao Cup quarter-final has ended with confirmation that Crystal Palace will visit the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, 23 December, kicking off at 8pm.
The match will be shown live in the UK on Sky Sports and ITV.
The finalised date comes after several days of speculation over whether Arsenal were refusing to move the game from the 16 December slot. Reports had claimed the club rejected Palace’s request to delay the game, but the new date suggests, as Mikel Arteta said they would, they have found a compromise.
Palace manager Oliver Glasner had been vocal about the strain on his squad, warning it would be “irresponsible” to ask his team to play four games in eight days. His side face Manchester City and Leeds United in the Premier League either side of Conference League fixtures against Shelbourne and KuPS Kuopio.
“Honestly I can’t believe this will be fixed in this way, because this would be irresponsible for the players and everybody,” Glasner said earlier this week. “We have a responsibility for the players and we have to look after their welfare. I’m really upset – when I heard about it I couldn’t believe they are considering this.”
He added that football’s governing bodies must coordinate better in future. “In the summer, in the off-season, there are people who have to work on the schedule. I would really prefer it if they worked together. It would be nice if UEFA, the Premier League, the EFL and the FA talk together. Get it organised. Get it sorted before.”
Some outlets had suggested Mikel Arteta opposed the idea of rescheduling, quoting him as saying “I don’t think that’s fair because we have other competitions as well.”
However, full transcripts of his comments tell a different story. When asked whether Arsenal could simply tell Palace their congestion was not Arsenal’s problem, he replied: “I don’t think that’s fair because obviously we have other competitions as well. So I think we have to try to accommodate. We knew at the start of the season the competitions that the club is playing and I don’t think that would be fair on Palace. We have to try to accommodate it in the best possible way for everybody.”
Pressed on whether there were any available alternatives, Arteta had been emphatic: “No, there are others. Believe me, there are other options much better than this one.”
In short, Arsenal were never refusing to cooperate.
With both sides playing away in the Premier League on 21 December – Arsenal at Everton, Palace at Leeds – the new date still ensures a demanding run-in to Christmas.
The Gunners reached the quarter-finals by beating Port Vale and Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0, while Palace advanced after beating Millwall on penalties before a 3-0 win at Liverpool.
The tie will be the sixth meeting between the clubs in the League Cup. Palace won their first encounter in 1970, while Arsenal triumphed at the semi-final stage in 1993, going on to lift the trophy.
The sides also met at this stage last season, when a Gabriel Jesus hat-trick helped Arsenal progress to the last four.