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long Carabao Cup The quarter final stage will end tonight Arsenal to host Crystal Palace,
skirmish on Emirates Stadium The strange thing is that it occurs six days after the competition’s semi-final draw, with all three of the other last-eight fixtures having been played the previous week.
However this was not the original plan. Arsenal’s visit to Palace was due to take place last Tuesday in coordination with the rest of the quarter-finals Game rescheduled due to fixture pile up,
faced the castle mildly ridiculous possibility Hosting four games in eight days in mid-December Manchester City In Premier League On Sunday 14 December, ahead of the Carabao Cup clash with the Gunners on Tuesday 16 December, a conference league A match against Finnish team KuPS two days later and then a league game against Leeds on Sunday 21 December to end this hellish week.
eagles boss oliver glassner had set out the proposed fixture schedule and claimed it would be detrimental to their players.
“It’s dangerous and irresponsible to say you should play Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday,” Glasner fumed.
Even the Arsenal head coach mikel arteta Agreeing with that sentiment, he said there were “much better options” than that date.
And thus Palace got some relief, and the quarter-finals were moved to Tuesday 23 December.
It means Palace will face the slightly more manageable prospect of four games in 10 days and the Gunners will enjoy the luxury of a five-day gap after the game before taking on Tottenham on December 28.
Nevertheless, the quarter-final still serves as the second match in three days for both sides, with Arsenal and Palace facing Everton respectively and, as mentioned earlier, Leeds on Sunday.
The change in schedule has not had any positive impact on Palace’s results, having lost both their league fixtures with Man City and Leeds in the last nine days and also suffered a shock draw with KuPS, which saw them miss out on a top eight league-stage finish and therefore automatic qualification for the Conference League Round of 16.
Meanwhile, Arsenal got their morale back with an assured win at the Hill Dickinson Stadium at the weekend after two own goals saved them embarrassment against rock-bottom Wolves.
Arteta and Glasner will go into tonight’s match at the Emirates knowing the road to Wembley lies ahead. An exciting two-legged semi-final with Chelsea Waiting for the winner. In the new year, the match between Newcastle and Manchester City ended in a draw.
The game will kick off at 8pm GMT and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and ITV in the UK.