Crystal Palace are set to face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, but the tie is yet to be scheduled and could see the Eagles play two games in three days
Nathan Ridley Senior Sports Reporter and Neil Docking
13:01, 01 Nov 2025
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner are at loggerheads(Image: Getty Images)
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has slammed football authorities as ‘irresponsible’ after his side were faced with a fixture nightmare – but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has hit back.
Following Wednesday’s commanding 3-0 triumph over Liverpool at Anfield, Palace have secured their place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. However, this success has created a scheduling headache for Glasner’s squad. The Eagles are due to face Manchester City on Sunday, December 14, followed by a Conference League clash against KuPS on 18 December, before taking on Leeds on December 21.
Arsenal, Palace’s quarter-final adversaries, are pushing for their Emirates showdown to take place on Tuesday, December 16. If the North London giants succeed in their request, Palace would be compelled to play two fixtures in three days, three in five, four in eight, or five in 11, reports the Mirror.
“I can’t believe this won’t be fixed,” Glasner complained. “It would be irresponsible for the players and we have a responsibility for them and we have to look after their welfare, but not just ours at the club. I was really upset when I heard it for the first time yesterday. I couldn’t even believe that they were considering this.”
The EFL, who run the Carabao Cup, barely escaped a similar catastrophe last season. With the Conference League now stretched across 10 weeks rather than six, Chelsea would have faced identical circumstances had they not fallen to Newcastle in the fourth round last October.
Oliver Glasner speaking at his Crystal Palace press conference(Image: Sky Sports)
Sadly for Arsenal and Palace, it’s doubtful that any resolution would satisfy all parties. Should the match be shifted to Tuesday, December 23, both sides would have barely 48 hours to bounce back from their Premier League fixtures the preceding Sunday.
“I’m really upset but I spoke about this issue three months ago when I looked at the schedule, in the summer, the off-season,” Glasner went on. There are people who work on this and I would really like it if they talked together.
“We have international games, the two cups and the Premier League. It would be nice if UEFA, the Premier League and the FA talked together because it’s so surprising. Maybe now you can’t find a solution, but we need to get it sorted.
“It would be irresponsible playing Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. But there is a solution because the week after, on the 21st [of December] we play Leeds and then we play on the 28th.
“There was a big discussion as to why there are no Boxing Day [matches]. Again, they fixed these games without talking to anyone. It would be nice if they all talked together, this is their job, what they get paid for.”
Nevertheless, Arteta isn’t enthusiastic about selecting an alternative date. He said: “I don’t think that’s fair because we have other competitions as well, so we have to try to accommodate. We knew at the start of the season the competitions that each club is playing in. I don’t think it would be fair.
“Every decision that we make in terms of a fixture has to be guided on two main things; players’ welfare, and then supporters, and that is it, and the rest has to come very, very far away from that. And we should never forget that principle.
Mikel Arteta has made his stance clear(Image: Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
“If we have that big piece of paper with those two principles there in front before we make any decision, all of us in our industry, we won’t get there. If we don’t and we just ignore that, then anything is possible.
“If we look after the players’ welfare and our supporters, we are never going to get to that point [players going on strike]. We have to close the window there. We cannot open that window. It has to be closed. It’s our most precious value.
“We have the best league in the world and we cannot just open any window for anything just to lose that because we don’t respect that, and we forget what we are made of and what makes this game and this league so, so special.
“And if we respect that, I’m sure we’re going to be totally fine.”
