Arsenal have announced that their Europa League match against PSV Eindhoven on Thursday, September 15, has been postponed.
In a statement released on Monday, September 12, the club wrote, "the postponement follows liaison between UEFA, the Metropolitan Police and ourselves, after the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II." The match will need to be replayed, but fixture congestion could make it complicated to schedule.
The decision comes after immense speculation over police availability for matches this week, with forces being sent to London in order to combat millions of people arriving in the capital to pay their respects to the Queen ahead of her funeral on Monday, September 19.
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Arsenal had their match against Everton cancelled along with every other Premier League match due to the Queen's death, and now their European match has also been cancelled despite EFL fixtures being played on Tuesday, September 13.
This now raises even further questions as to if the upcoming weekend's match, at home vs Brentford, will go ahead either. Due to the police requirements in London, this weekend games have been thrown into doubt, and the UEFA decision, along with Arsenal and PSV, only makes Saturday's game less likely to happen.
Although stadium switches had been discussed, due to both sides coming from London, this would not apply. Now with the precedent set for a game being played in the lead-up to the funeral, London is expected to get busier and busier as the week goes on, creating more security issues at the Brentford Community Stadium.
It also adds to the likeliness that Chelsea's match against Liverpool on Sunday, September 18, is cancelled with no other stadium option available with Everton also playing on Merseyside earlier that afternoon.
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