The Arsenal Supporters Trust have written an open letter to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, criticising the North London side's early kick-off time for this evening's Europa League tie against BATE Borisov.
The second leg tie will kick off at 5.55pm due to UEFA guidelines, which does not allow two matches to be played in the same city at the same time, as Chelsea are due to play their own Europa League second leg tie against Malmo at Stamford Bridge at 8pm.
The letter from the Arsenal Supporters Trust states:
This is a totally unacceptable and inconvenient kick off time for a vast number of Arsenal fans who have to travel to the game after work from across London, the South East and further afield.
The result will be a huge number of empty seats and many fans having to pay for a ticket on their season tickets which they cannot use.
This is both unfair on Arsenal supporters and will lead to a poor atmosphere in the stadium.
We are sure that TV coverage will be the explanation for this kick off time but such decision-making fails to recognise that watching football on TV is enhanced as a spectacle when there is a full ground and good atmosphere.
Can you also give a reassurance that having been faced with this situation that UEFA will ensure that such scheduling does not occur again.
The 5.55pm and 8pm kick-off times are a policy built around television scheduling that UEFA have introduced in recent years. It is believed that Arsenal view the early kick-off time as far from ideal, as they have difficulties in securing enough stewards to meet UEFA requirements.
TalkSport are reporting that the Arsenal Supporters Trust are liaising with supporters of other clubs about the prospect of a unified protest against 5.55pm kick-offs.
