• Arsenal’s Europa League clash with PSV postponed
The English Premier League announced last Friday that matches would be postponed over the weekend following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, reports metro.co.uk. But the postponement does not affect UEFA Champions League matches.
Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Celtic and Rangers are all in the Champions League this season, with the second round of group matches set to take place across Europe this week.
And discussions have taken place between UEFA and British clubs to determine whether their matches will actually take place this week.
Champions League group stage fixtures involving British clubs are expected to go largely on schedule this week.
However, Rangers’ home game against Napoli has been postponed for 24 hours until tomorrow. UEFA said the decision had been taken “due to severe limitations in police resources and organizational issues relating to the ongoing events surrounding the national mourning of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”.
Chelsea’s Group E clash with Salzburg is set to take place in London tomorrow night despite expectations that their Premier League tie with Liverpool at the weekend will be called off.
Premier League matches in the capital are thought to be at risk of being postponed due to severe pressure on police resources, with London expecting record high visitors to the city ahead of the Queen’s funeral on Monday September 19.
Today Tottenham travel to Lisbon to take on Sporting, while Liverpool’s game against Ajax at Anfield will be the first time a Premier League side have played in the Champions League in the UK following the death of His Majesty.
Meanwhile, Manchester City hosts Borussia Dortmund and Celtic will be out against Shakhtar Donetsk tomorrow night. However, Arsenal’s Europa League home game against PSV Eindhoven has been postponed following discussions between the club, UEFA and the Metropolitan Police.
UEFA said in a statement: “UEFA announced today that the UEFA Europa League tie between Arsenal FC and PSV Eindhoven, originally scheduled to be played on 15 September, has been postponed with a new date to be communicated in due course.
“This is due to severe police resource limitations and organizational issues related to the ongoing events surrounding the national mourning of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
Manchester United’s away trip to Moldova to face Sheriff will go on as scheduled on Thursday, with the game due to start at 5.45pm.
A massive police operation is needed in London this week, with the Queen due to go to bed between tomorrow and her funeral on September 19.
Arsenal’s Premier League visit to Brentford on Sunday is also in doubt due to pressure on police resources. The Gunners face a pile-up of fixtures in a campaign already set to be cut short by a first-ever Winter World Cup.
Apart from the upcoming international break, Mikel Arteta’s men are due to play every midweek before the start of the World Cup break on November 13.
The UEFA club competition group stages are due to end on November 3 and the round of 16 draws on November 7.
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