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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport

Arsenal's Europa League last-16 clash with BATE Borisov rescheduled again

Uefa have restored Arsenal’s Europa League round-of-32 second leg with BATE Borisov to Thursday, but its 5:55pm scheduling is unlikely to ease the headache for supporters.

Uefa announced this morning that Arsenal’s home leg would be moved forward by 24 hours to Wednesday in order to avoid scheduling it on the same night as Chelsea, with the Blues given priority because they had won last season’s FA Cup.

Fans reacted furiously to the planned scheduling of the fixture, which would have meant the match was complete before that day’s Champions League games.

Tim Payton, spokesperson for the Arsenal Supporters' Trust, told Standard Sport: “It is time that football and TV companies showed at least some respect to football fans.”

The governing body have now confirmed to Standard Sport that the match will be restored to Thursday night but will take place just over two hours before Chelsea’s home game against Malmo kicks off at Stamford Bridge.

Whether that eases the concerns of supporters for a game that will kick off during rush hour in the capital remains to be seen.

Arsenal had hoped for the fixture to kick off at 8pm - the same time as the rest of their Europa League fixtures this season.

“We appreciate this kick-off time may present difficulties for supporters and matchday staff and we would have preferred for the match to kick-off at 8pm, as has been the case for all our home matches in this season’s group stage," a statement from the club read.

“We thank everyone in advance for their support in relation to this kick-off time which is not in our control.”

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