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Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side head back to Athens in the Europa League.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side head back to Athens in the Europa League. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side head back to Athens in the Europa League. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

Arsenal frustrated over Europa League trip to Greece days before facing Spurs

This article is more than 3 years old
  • Arteta’s side must travel for first leg against Olympiacos
  • Tottenham can prepare for 14 March derby locally

Mikel Arteta has reflected Arsenal’s frustration at a fixture switch that will leave them going into the north London derby on 14 March on the back of a seven-hour round trip to Greece, while Tottenham are able to prepare locally.

Arsenal and Spurs had been drawn to play away in the first legs of their Europa League last-16 ties, three days before they meet at the Emirates Stadium.

Spurs’ matches against Dinamo Zagreb have been switched, however, under Uefa regulations that preclude teams from the same city playing at home on the same evening. It means they will face the Croatian side at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 11 March, while Arsenal face flights to and from Athens for their game with Olympiakos.

“Unfortunately it’s not going to change,” Arteta said. “We can raise our voices and we should do that because we want to have two teams playing in equal conditions. But the decision has been made and that’s it. I don’t want to use one bit of excuse going towards that game saying: ‘Oh they have an advantage.’ So I will probably use it to our advantage, and that’s it.”

Arsenal feel a Uefa rule intended to favour them as domestic cup winners may have the opposite effect. The regulation means their tie must remain as drawn, also retaining the perceived advantage of playing the second leg at home in this case. But Arsenal would have preferred the opposite and, although they have made representations to Uefa, accept the governing body will not change its methodology.

There is an added element of bemusement that, given games are behind closed doors, playing both home legs simultaneously in London would place scant extra strain on transport infrastructure or public services. Arsenal are not the only club to have perceived an inflexibility on Uefa’s part where scheduling is concerned when edicts around certain kick-off times for Premier League games have been relaxed during the pandemic. Moving one Europa League game to Wednesday, as Spurs did in the last round, was not an option under Uefa rules this time.

Arsenal won at Leicester on Sunday after another journey to Athens, where they faced Benfica, and there is an acceptance the trip is at least familiar. Arteta is waiting to see whether Emile Smith Rowe, who had a scan on Monday after sustaining an injury, is fit to face Burnley on Saturday.

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