Arsenal and Crystal Palace have been granted permission to rearrange December games away to Everton and Leeds United respectively after the Premier League cited "player welfare" for the decision to green-light the clubs' requests to ease a fixture pile-up.
Premier League leaders Arsenal and FA Cup holders Palace are due to meet in a Carabao Cup quarterfinal at the Emirates Stadium on Dec. 23 after the tie was rescheduled from the previous week due to Palace's UEFA Conference League clash against Finnish team KuPS on Dec. 18.
That fixture change has impacted the Premier League commitments of both teams, however, with Arsenal and Palace scheduled to play crucial league games just two days before the Carabao Cup tie.
But after the two clubs lodged an appeal to the Premier League calling for their weekend fixtures to be brought forward, both sides will now play their games at 8 p.m. GMT on Dec. 20, rather than the originally scheduled 2 p.m. GMT on Dec. 21.
"Player welfare is a priority for the Premier League, and we have therefore granted requests from Arsenal and Crystal Palace to move their respective fixtures," a Premier League statement said. "This comes after the scheduling of matches from other competitions around Premier League fixtures without adequate player recovery time.
"This is also further evidence of the impact the expanded UEFA competitions have on the domestic fixture calendar.
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"The League would like to thank Leeds United and Everton for their co-operation in accommodating these changes."
Despite the switch meaning that Palace will now play two games in three days -- the Conference League tie against KuPS followed by the trip to Leeds -- the club chose to request the switch in order to allow for more time to prepare for the Carabao Cup clash against Mikel Arteta's team.