The Metropolitan Police have responded to numerous complaints from Arsenal and Chelsea supporters after their London derby clash was moved at short notice. The initial fixture was set for Saturday, April 29 at Emirates Stadium but a new date for the game was revealed earlier this week.
Confirming the change, a statement from Arsenal read: "The Premier League has announced that our home league match against Chelsea will now take place on Tuesday, May 2, kicking off at 8pm (UK time). This change has been made as a result of the Metropolitan Police revising its position on policing the match.
"After working to try to find a solution with the Met Police, we are very disappointed with the impact and disruption this fixture change will cause to our supporters, particularly after this match had been initially approved for a Saturday evening kick-off."
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The Premier League also provided a statement which detailed their regret to move the fixture at such short notice. After confirming the new date, the statement appeared to hint that the decision was made by the police. "The initial scheduling of this match was approved at a Safety Advisory Group (SAG) meeting in February," part of the statement read. "However, the Metropolitan Police has now revised its position regarding the kick-off time and requested a further SAG meeting which determined the match had to be rescheduled.
Following on from significant fan backlash, Mirror approached the Met Police for a comment to which a response was received. The statement from Met Police said: “The Met works closely with partners to ensure the safety and security of those attending football matches in London.
“On 2nd February, within 24 hours of being informed of the proposed scheduling of this match, the Met raised an issue with Arsenal Football Club and the Premier League regarding the proposed 17:30hrs kick off for the Arsenal V Chelsea football match on Saturday 29th April, on the basis that the later weekend kick off time presents a higher risk of crime, anti-social behaviour and disorder.
“To mitigate these risks, the Met asked for the match to take place at an earlier time on the same day (Saturday 29th April), and our position on this has not changed.
“An Emergency Safety Advisory Group meeting with key partners on 6th February failed to resolve the issue, and following a further meeting on 31st March the suggested earlier kick off time was declined by Arsenal and the Premier League, who instead decided to reschedule the fixture to the alternative time and date of 20:00hrs on Tuesday 2nd May.”
After releasing a statement just hours after the change, the Met Police's further clarification on what happened would appear to be them putting the fixture scheduling row firmly back in the Premier League’s court.
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