Why is Vitoria SC vs Arsenal Europa League match taking place on Wednesday night?

Archie Blade | 05/11/2019
Why is Vitoria SC vs Arsenal Europa League match taking place on Wednesday night

Why is Vitoria SC vs Arsenal Europa League match taking place on Wednesday night? Europa League matches are generally scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

After a poor couple of weeks in the Premier League, Arsenal will look for solace in the Premier League. The North London side have won all their 3 matches in Europe’s secondary competition so far and will look to extend their winning run.

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This week will be a reverse of Arsenal’s previous encounter with a spirited Vitoria SC side. The Portuguese side surprised Unai Emery and his men by taking a 2-goal lead. Gabriel Martinelli reduced the lead to 1 before Nicolas Pepe’s heroics won the match for Arsenal in the very last minute.

Unai Emery will be hoping to endure a much easier match this time around. Vitoria SC on the other hand, will look to use the home advantage and support of their fans to hand Arsenal their first defeat and register their first win in the competition.

However, despite all Europa League competitions generally taking place on Thursday or Friday, their clash at Estadio D. Afonso Henriques in Guimaraes, Portugal will take place on Wednesday instead; a day usually reserved for Champions League clashes.

Why is Vitoria SC vs Arsenal Europa League match taking place on Wednesday night?

The reason behind UEFA’s decision to move Vitoria SC vs Arsenal to Wednesday is because Vitoria’s Primeira Liga rivals Sporting Braga are also hosting their game against Beskitas in the Europa league on Thursday. UEFA rules stipulate that two teams from the same region cannot play their home games on the same date.

The decision intends to relieve the workload on local authorities. It will also prevent fans from too many different teams descending on the same area and stop busy traffic with both clubs being just a 24-minute drive apart. Apart from being played on an unusual day, the match will also start at a different time.

Europa League games are usually played at either 5.55pm (GMT) or 8pm (GMT). However, in an attempt to avoid broadcasting clashes with Champions League games taking place on the same day, Vitoria SC vs Arsenal has been moved to a 3.50pm (GMT).

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Post Edited By: Archie Blade
Arsenal Europa League

About the author

Archie Blade

Archie is a WWE and UFC Editor/Author at the SportsRush. Like most combat sports enthusiasts, his passion for watching people fight began with WWE when he witnessed a young Brock Lesnar massacre Hulk Hogan back in 2002. This very passion soon branched out to boxing and mixed martial arts. Over the years he fell in love with the theatrics that preceded the bell and the poetic carnage that followed after. Each bruise a story to tell, each wound a song of struggle, his greatest desire is to be there to witness it all. His favorite wrestler is Shawn Michaels and he believes that GSP is the greatest to ever step foot inside the octagon. Apart from wrestling, he is also fond of poetry and music.

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