But Arsenal’s visit to Brentford is scheduled for Wednesday, with a one-day break in games in between.

Though New Year’s Eve seems like the obvious explanation, the festivities haven’t stopped Arsenal from playing matches in the past. The Gunners travelled away to Fulham on December 31st, 2023, and they faced Brighton on December 31st, 2022.

The difference this season is that December 31st isn’t at the weekend. This year, New Year’s Eve is on a Tuesday, meaning the game couldn’t be scheduled for earlier in the day. It would have to be in the evening, which is much more of a clash with the celebrations.

As a result, the Premier League has decided to avoid scheduling any games on December 31st.

Before the campaign began, the league had also committed to avoiding any one club playing two matches within 60 hours between December 21st and January 5th.

With Arsenal playing on Friday (Dec 27th), a Sunday (Dec 29th) game was out of the question, as that would have meant two games in 60 hours. A game on Thursday (Jan 2nd) was out for the same reason, as Arsenal play Brighton on Saturday (Jan 4th).

The Gunners could have played on Monday (Dec 30th), like Friday’s opponent’s Ipswich are. The reason they aren’t is much more predictable: TV greed.

The TV broadcasters want to air Manchester United’s game against Newcastle United on Monday night, but they also want to air the Arsenal game.

With no other TV slots on Monday, the game had to shift to the next available day. Given December 31st was seemingly off the table this time, that was Wednesday.

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