Arsenal make Premier League request to move fixture amid Crystal Palace chaos

Arsenal have applied for their Premier League match with Everton to be played on December 20, a day earlier than currently scheduled football.london understands as first reported by Sami Mokbel. The Gunners would be due to play two games in three days, as things stand, with their quarter-final League Cup clash with Crystal Palace set for December 23.

Mikel Arteta has been very strong on the matter when askedand most recently stated before the 2-2 draw with Sunderland of his positivity that the right solution would be found.

“Well I'm super optimistic that this is not going to be the case because from every angle, from the Premier League, from the EFL, from UEFA, all the time the only thing that we talk about is the welfare of the players and the supporters and if we want to maintain that principle that cannot be the case and we cannot play Sunday and Tuesday,” Arteta said.

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“So we have very positive talks to the clubs and to the Premier League, and hopefully we'll find a way to help as much as possible because sometimes you cannot help 200 people out there that they have an issue but for that reason you cannot say if I can help 100 I'm not going to do it because what about the other 100?

“No, no, no. Help 100. If you can help 100 and the other 100 next time you have the opportunity do it as well and I think we need to be very thorough and we cannot allow ourselves to put in that situation.”

UEFA already rejected Crystal Palace’s request for their Conference League clash with KuPS, scheduled for December 18 to be pushed back to the Wednesday, then allowing them to potentially move their away trip to Leeds United on December 21 to the Saturday also.

This would have allowed Palace at least two days break between the three fixtures. For Arsenal, they have no midweek commitments meaning that they would have a week’s rest before Everton regardless.