Why Arsenal’s Carabao Cup Quarterfinal Has Been Delayed
Arsenal will be in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup semifinal draw, but not because the Gunners have earned their place in the last four of the competition.
It will be an either/or situation when their ball number comes out of the pot, a number shared with quarterfinal opponent Crystal Palace.
This was the week that the quarterfinals were scheduled to be played—Arsenal were supposed to be facing Palace on Tuesday. Instead, the tie was pushed back to next week instead. Two days before Christmas, the sides from either side of the River Thames will do battle at the Emirates Stadium.
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The reason is relatively simple: it’s one born of scheduling congestion.
Crystal Palace, who beat Manchester City in last season’s FA Cup and Liverpool on penalties in this season’s Community Shield, couldn’t reasonably play on Tuesday as intended.
The Eagles are in action in the UEFA Conference League against Finland’s KuPS on Thursday. They had already played last Sunday against Manchester City in the Premier League, and faced Irish team Shelbourne in the Conference League last Thursday too.
Making Oliver Glasner’s team play in the Carabao Cup this week would have been borderline inhumane. The turnaround between games is impossible in a run of fixtures that could have had Palace taking to the pitch four times in the space of only eight days—five in 10 when you also consider Saturday’s Premier League encounter with Leeds United at Elland Road.
Even four games in 10 days in reality is rough for Palace. The Leeds game would normally be postponed to Sunday following a Thursday night European fixture, but with the Arsenal quarterfinal needing to be squeezed in somewhere and then Christmas hitting, there’s no wiggle room.
Mikel Arteta Knows the ‘Difficulty’ in Facing Crystal Palace
When Arsenal faced Crystal Palace in the Premier League in October, a single goal at the Emirates from Eberechi Eze against his former club was all that decided a tough game.
“Big credit to them, because when we tried to do something, they adjusted to it, the way they are set up, they don’t jump to things, they don’t get attracted to things,” Arteta said afterwards.
There is no easy way to play against a side that was 19 games unbeaten earlier this season.
“The two outside players in the back line are really aggressive, so it’s really difficult to find those spaces, and then you know the moment they regain the ball, they have a focal point of [Jean-Philippe] Mateta, two runners, and you have to be very disciplined,” Arteta analysed.
“The moment you lose [discipline], you can get very exposed. I said to the boys, ‘We’re going to have a long match, be really stable emotionally, very direct when we have the opportunity to attack them and take our chances, because there’s not going to be that many.’”
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