Why Arsenal’s Brentford clash is on Wednesday | OneFootball

Whilst 18 of the 20 Premier League teams are in action on Sunday or Monday, Arsenal don’t play their game against Brentford until Wednesday, leading many to wonder why.

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Almost every team in the Premier League will play a fixture on December 29th and 30th, with two exceptions – Brentford and Arsenal.

Six games are taking place on Sunday, December 29th, including league-leaders Liverpool travelling away to West Ham United. A further three matches will then take place on Monday, including Chelsea’s trip away to Ipswich Town and Manchester United taking on Newcastle United.

But Arsenal’s visit to Brentford is scheduled for Wednesday, with a one-day break in games in between.

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Though New Year’s Eve seems like the obvious explanation, the festivities haven’t stopped Arsenal from playing matches in the past. The Gunners travelled away to Fulham on December 31st, 2023, and they faced Brighton on December 31st, 2022.

The difference this season is that December 31st isn’t at the weekend. This year, New Year’s Eve is on a Tuesday, meaning the game couldn’t be scheduled for earlier in the day. It would have to be in the evening, which is much more of a clash with the celebrations.

As a result, the Premier League has decided to avoid scheduling any games on December 31st.

Before the campaign began, the league had also committed to avoiding any one club playing two matches within 60 hours between December 21st and January 5th.

Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

With Arsenal playing on Friday (Dec 27th), a Sunday (Dec 29th) game was out of the question, as that would have meant two games in 60 hours. A game on Thursday (Jan 2nd) was out for the same reason, as Arsenal play Brighton on Saturday (Jan 4th).

The Gunners could have played on Monday (Dec 30th), like Friday’s opponent’s Ipswich are. The reason they aren’t is much more predictable: TV greed.

The TV broadcasters want to air Manchester United’s game against Newcastle United on Monday night, but they also want to air the Arsenal game.

With no other TV slots on Monday, the game had to shift to the next available day. Given December 31st was seemingly off the table this time, that was Wednesday.