There are not many Arsenal fans that will be happy that Chelsea v Man United are kicking off at the same time as Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final against Reading, and I am one of them. The result of Chelsea v Man United is, arguably, just as important to Arsenal’s season as the Cup semi.
If Chelsea win, then the Gunners can just about give up on the title, but will be much more secure about second place, while if Man United win, they will go above us in the table, but give us a better chance of winning the title….
But the knobs at the BBC obviously didn’t want us to watch both games, and the only reason I can think they are doing it is to stick one on Sky, but in reality there will be less neutrals watching the FA Cup game, and they will be annoying football fans everywhere. The Chelsea v Man United game was scheduled as far back as February, so the Beeb can hardly say they had no choice, but a spokesman revealed that they are hoping to get more viewers for Match Of The Day later on that night: “We hope our audience will enjoy the underdogs Reading against the holders Arsenal live on BBC One followed by extended highlights of Chelsea v Man Utd on MotD on Saturday evening.”
What I would really like is for Sky to hit back and announce they will be repeating the Chelsea v Man United match immediately after the game, but there is no way the BBC commentators would refrain from telling us the score during the Arsenal match, so we would all know the result anyway. This has REALLY annoyed me!