Arsenal and Crystal Palace will play their Carabao Cup quarter-final a week after the other three ties.
Scheduling difficulties have played havoc with the Carabao Cup this season and Arsenal’s clash with the Eagles is the latest game to be affected by the European fixture list.
Palace will play Finnish side KuPS in the Conference League on Thursday, 18 December after hosting Manchester City on the previous Sunday.
Arsenal and Crystal Palace will play their quarter-final two days before Christmas but the unusual scheduling has just moved the problem
The Man City game can’t be moved forward because the previous week also sees Palace in action in the Conference League.
Consequently, the quarter-final against Arsenal has been confirmed for Tuesday, 23 December. In doing so, the authorities have avoided overlapping with European fixtures but naturally created fixture congestion elsewhere.
As it stands, Palace are due to play in the Premier League against Leeds United at Elland Road two days before visiting Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, avoiding a Christmas Eve fixture.
Their quarter-final opponents are in the same situation. Arsenal are scheduled to play away at Everton on Sunday, 21 December.
It might not concern UEFA now but playing two games in three days has raised the concerns of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Palace boss Oliver Glasner, who deemed the fixture congestion ‘irresponsible’ before it was confirmed that the quarter-final has been moved.
Arteta is hopeful that Arsenal’s push to reschedule the Everton match will be successful, with dates in March understood to be the club’s preference.
The Gunners, who reportedly opposed the quarter-final being moved to 23 December, have three premier League fixtures listed in March but the Champions League round of 16 will be played across two March midweeks.
The end of March is also an international match window, so any solution found for Arsenal and Palace to move their respective fixtures is likely to be a fresh squeeze in its own right.
In a statement, the EFL took aim at UEFA’s impact on the Carabao Cup for the second time this season.
With European competitions now being played across 10 midweeks before the knock-out stages even begin, the EFL believes fixture congestion is ‘entirely unavoidable’.
“To continue making endless concessions only serves to undermine the reputation of the EFL Cup,” read the statement.
“It also challenges the traditional scheduling of the English football calendar and strength of our domestic game.”
Arteta said this week: “Hopefully… they will move our Premier League match because to play on this date doesn’t make any sense, obviously.”
