Arsenal’s Europa League tie against PSV Eindhoven has been rescheduled for October 20.
The tie had been due to be played on Thursday evening but was postponed due to police resourcing issues related to the death of Queen Elizabeth.
There were concerns Arsenal may have to forfeit the match if an alternative date could not be found, but the Premier League has agreed to postpone the Gunners’ match against Manchester City, which had been scheduled for October 19.
Uefa said in a statement the Arsenal-PSV match will now be played at 6pm local time on October 20, and thanked the relevant parties for finding a compromise.
“Uefa would like to thank the Premier League and the clubs concerned for their flexibility and co-operation 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,” the statement concluded.
European football's governing body wanted the Europa League group phase completed on schedule by November 3 ahead of the draw for the round of 16 four days later. Arsenal had no clear midweeks available ahead of the World Cup, which is being played from November 20 to December 18 in Qatar.
Though policing in London has allowed Chelsea’s Champions League game against Salzburg to go ahead Wednesday, the visit of a large group of PSV fans traveling from the Netherlands was more challenging. Chelsea's home league game against Liverpool on Sunday was also postponed.
The Premier League said that a new date for the Arsenal v Manchester City match would be announced in due course.
The league already faces a challenge to rearrange all of last weekend’s matches, which were postponed as a mark of respect to the Queen, plus three games due to be played this weekend – Brighton v Crystal Palace, Manchester United v Leeds and Chelsea v Liverpool.
Those games have been postponed due to police resourcing issues, as the authorities prepare for the Queen’s state funeral on Monday. Brighton v Palace had already been postponed prior to the Queen’s death due to a planned rail strike. Even though the industrial action had been called off, the game remains postponed for policing reasons.
League-leaders Arsenal travel to face Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.
