This Sunday’s Premier League match between Arsenal and Brentford will go on as scheduled, according to football.london. The game, which was initially slated to begin at 2 p.m. at the Brentford Community Stadium, will instead start at 12 p.m. It will continue to be shown on Sky Sports.
Following the demise of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, September 8th, all of last week’s Premier League games were canceled out of respect. After other sports, like cricket and both codes of rugby, elected to continue playing, the decision had become divisive.
There had been some doubt about whether the upcoming round of fixtures would be postponed as well because the Queen’s burial was scheduled for Monday. Arsenal, however, has now taken action to put a stop to rumors by announcing the choice.
The club released a statement saying, “Our Premier League away match against Brentford on Sunday, September 18 will go ahead at an earlier kick off time of 12pm.
“All tickets purchased for this match remain valid,” the statement reads. “The earlier kick off has been agreed upon following discussions between the Premier League, the Metropolitan Police, Brentford and ourselves, following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
Following the cancellation of both Thursday’s Europa League match against PSV and last week’s encounter against Everton, the announcement means that Arsenal will play one more before the international break. Although UEFA has informed Arsenal that they would like the PSV game finished before the World Cup break in November, it is not yet known when either game would be rescheduled. As a result, one of the Gunners’ fixtures against Manchester City or Brighton may be shifted.
