Arsenal‘s Premier League game against Manchester City on Wednesday 19 October has been postponed to accommodate the Gunners’ Europa League fixture with PSV Eindhoven which will take place the following day.
The Premier League has announced that a new date for Arsenal vs Manchester City will be announced in due course.
On Monday, Uefa announced that the game between Arsenal and PSV that was due to take place on Thursday 15 September at the Emirates had been called off due to “severe limitations on police resources and organisational issues” related to the Queen’s death.
The Queen will lie in state at Westminster Hall from Wednesday evening until the morning of Monday 19 September when her funeral will be held.
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A Uefa statement on Wednesday morning read: “Uefa today announced that the Uefa Europa League tie between Arsenal FC and PSV Eindhoven, originally scheduled to be played on Thursday 15 September, will now be played on Thursday 20 October at 19:00 CEST (18:00 local time).
“The rescheduling of this match was possible after the decision of the Premier League to postpone the domestic match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City FC originally due to be played on 19 October.
“Uefa would like to thank the Premier League and the clubs concerned for their flexibility and cooperation in the rescheduling of the Uefa Europa League match which had been postponed due to the impossibility for local police forces to guarantee its secure staging.”
Arsenal were required to find a new date to play the game before the World Cup – which begins on Sunday 20 November – or risk having to forfeit the points.
When could Arsenal vs Man City be played?
There is no available date in the calendar for the game to be played before the World Cup meaning the match looks set to take place in the New Year.
Every midweek from now until mid-November is already occupied with Champions League, Europa League or Conference League fixtures, as well as a round of Premier League games and Carabao Cup matches.
Unless the season is extended, which will be difficult given the Nations League begins in June, there are only three vacant slots in the calendar: April 2-4, May 2-4 and May 23-25.
It is probable therefore that Arsenal will play Man City twice in quick succession as the reverse fixture at the Etihad is currently pencilled in for Wednesday 26 April 2023.
Fortunately, for Mikel Arteta’s side it has not come to that, however, Arsenal will now face a fixture backlog with precious little wriggle room in the calendar to rearrange the City match.
Arsenal won their first Europa League game against FC Zurich last Thursday but the game was overshadowed by news of the Queen’s death which emerged during half-time.
A minute’s silence was held in Zurich’s stadium before the start of the second half.
A full round of Premier League fixtures were cancelled last weekend “as a mark of respect” to the Queen – a decision that received backlash from some supporters.
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