After much speculation, it looks as though Arsenal’s home game with Liverpool will NOT be played on Christmas Eve.
According to the Mirror, the Premier League, following a backlash by fans, have abandoned the idea to push the game back 24 hours. Instead, the match, which was originally scheduled for 3pm on 23 December, will be an evening kick-off on Friday 22 December.
The decision will come as a relief to fans planning to watch the game at the Emirates and for those fans in far-flung parts of the world that may have had to tune in on Christmas day itself.
Arsenal hinted that stewarding issues could cause problems, while Liverpool argued that their fans would struggle to get home from London.
Good job! Fucking stupid idea in the first place. A few beers on a Friday night sounds like a much better idea!
pleased that ‘sanity’ has prevailed
I’d guess that the Police have just stood firm over their decision that they can’t police the event effectively at that time on Xmas Eve, so Stewarding etc is all irrelevant.
Seems like common sense might just win on this one? Well done Arseblog for fighting the fan’s corner on this one.
Just before anyone else points it out, there are too many “this one”s in my post.
Well done, there are less ‘this one’s in this one.
Which one?
Sorry, but when you said there’s too many this one’s, did you mean there’s too many this one’s in this one or did you mean there’s too many this one’s in the one before this one?
Too many “this one’s” here.
So why move it from saurday?
Erm, why was that so difficult to decide? Seemed like an obvious solution at the time.
For a totally personal gain I was hoping that the match WOULD be on Xmas Eve because that would mean the Palace match would be moved to 27th. Anybody got any hints on how to get there with no trains to Norwood Junction on Boxing day?
Someone’s going to end up playing Xmas eve, which is still going to be ridiculous. No one should be put in this position. F**k Sky TV!
Great!!! So now they want everyone on the road on the afternoon/evening of the Christmas mass exodus. 8pm kick off, Scousers still aren’t going to be getting trains down/home even if there are trains or spaces on them. What about Christmas party time on that Friday?
Why not Saturday lunch time kick off?
Because there’s a top-4 game between Watford and ManC at Saturday lunch?
(Note: I don’t know anything about other fixtures.)
Playing on a Friday will give the players some extra rest for the Palace game on Boxing Day. I fear Palace more than Liverpool because the manager will rotate for that game.
I was actually looking forward to a match on xmas eve. I don’t give a rat’s about scousers travel arrangements especially after a horde of them managed to get themselves into the upper tier and ruin my ‘experience’ when Robbie Keane equalised.
According to The Mirror common sense prevailed…so how are the Liverpool fans supposed to get back home.
This match should have been unchanged on Saturday, 3pm. How long have we not had that? That would not have caused problems for the Pool fans heading back.
Seriously, there needs to be a set % of games that are on a Saturday at 15:00. Saturday lunchtime beer, queuing to get out of the tube, stepping in police horse shit, overpriced under-cooked food, watch the game, queuing to get on the tube, more beer after the match. It’s the way football should be consumed. Sundays, evenings, fridays, mondays just dont cut it. Saturdays are for football.
It would’ve been too harsh for Liverpool to be beaten 4-0 the day before Christmas. That’s the real reason.
Well spank my nuts and call me Barbara, who would’ve thought common sense would prevail!
Nobody wants Zhaka & Co ruining their Christmas. Boxing day will be soon enough.
We always blame Sky/BT for scheduling games for when fans have no chance of getting home by public transport. Here’s an idea: why don’t the train companies just put on extra services to ferry those fans home? The demand is there, so they could at least experiment with adding some supply.
They’d have to pay train drivers overtime, but they’d still make a tidy profit, and I’m sure there’s a train driver who is a Liverpool fan and lives in that area.