"After the Gunners played Brentford on Wednesday evening, they must travel to Aston Villa on Saturday for a 12:30 GMT kick-off. It is a really quick turnaround. Arteta believes the Villa fixture should have been scheduled for Sunday to provide additional rest. Unfortunately for Arteta, only teams who are away in Europe on a Wednesday night can opt out of that Saturday lunchtime TV slot, so his complaints will fall on deaf ears."
"It is even worse if you do well in the EFL Cup, as Crystal Palace are about to discover. The final two rounds of the Conference League are played on consecutive Thursdays with Palace away to Shelbourne on 11 December and at home to Finnish side KuPS seven days later. But this is only part of the story for Palace, fifth in the Premier League."
Mikel Arteta objects to Arsenal's scheduled 12:30 GMT Saturday match following a Wednesday evening fixture and wants the Villa game moved to Sunday for extra rest. Only clubs away in European midweek fixtures can avoid the Saturday lunchtime TV slot. December brings dense scheduling with midweek rounds, festive fixtures, European ties and EFL Cup quarter-finals. Crystal Palace face 11 matches in 36 days, six away, with consecutive Conference League Thursdays and an EFL Cup quarter-final at Arsenal moved to 23 December. Palace must play KuPS and Leeds within 48 hours and have a longest rest of five days.
Read at www.bbc.com
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