Three Albion games in December and January rearranged
Prepare yourself for travel chaos as Brighton and Hove Albion’s Boxing Day clash with Arsenal at the Amex has been selected for live television coverage.
The visit of Unai Emery’s Gunners will now kick off at 5.15pm on December 26th. The game would have been affected by a skeleton train service but the later kick off will now mean it’s all but impossible to attend by train, especially for Arsenal supporters travelling down from London and far-flung Seagulls fans.
Arsenal have made a flying start to the season but Sky obviously see the potential for an upset similar to when Brighton defeated the Gunners 2-1 last season. Because of that, us supporters get shafted once again.
The Arsenal game is the only Albion match to be selected for live television coverage throughout December and January, although it isn’t the only fixture to be moved.
Chelsea’s visit to the Amex has been pushed back to Sunday 16th December because of the Blue’s involvement in the Europa League the Thursday beforehand.
That game will kick off at 1.30pm and Brighton will be hoping for a better result than last time Eden Hazard and Co were in town when they ran out 4-0 winners.
The other fixture to be moved is the Albion’s trip to the London Stadium to take on West Ham United.
Originally scheduled for New Years Day at 3pm, it will now take place just over 24 hours later on Wednesday 2nd January at 7.45pm. That’s due to Sky inexplicably deciding the nation want to see Burnley v West Ham on December 30th, pushing our trip to East London back a day.
There’s a positive and negative side to the West Ham game being moved. The positive is that getting to Stratford on New Years Day looked another potential public transport nightmare so a Wednesday evening game may be better in that regard.
The negative is obviously a Wednesday evening game means no heavy drinking as most of us will be back at work or returning to work the next day.
Glenn Murray will probably be happy with the extra 24 hours rest. Given he is nearly a pensioner, it seemed guaranteed that Chris Hughton would rest him at some point over Christmas to avoid playing three times in six days.
The extra days rest may mean Murray playing all three games which is excellent news given his fantastic record against the Hammers, whom he has six goals against including the winner in the Albion’s 1-0 victory at the Amex prior to the international break.
With television games now confirmed through to the end of January, it means that the home game with Crystal Palace, the away game with Manchester United and the visit of Liverpool to the Amex will all take place on their originally scheduled days.
