Manchester United are bracing themselves for their trip to London on Sunday 12th January to face Arsenal in the FA Cup.
United go into the competition as reigning champions after beating Manchester City in the final last season.
Goals from star youngsters Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo sealed the deal, securing a Europa League slot for the club as well as the trophy.
Now, The Red Devils are looking to retain their title, facing Arsenal in the Third Round as their first game in this season’s tournament.
However, it’s now been revealed that United may have 1,000 empty seats where away fans should be when they attend the Emirates Stadium.
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Manchester United face empty seats at the Emirates Stadium
The Standard has reported that a row over ticket allocations could result in 1,000 seats being unused for the game.
The FA Cup rules that away fans are entitled to an allocation of 15% of the match’s tickets. As the Emirates holds 60,000 attendees, United should have been allocated 9,000 tickets.
However, they’ve actually received 7,956 tickets including 78 wheelchair pairs.
The reason for the reduced allocation boils down to safety concerns, with some of the away seats being in the upper tier of Arsenal’s home ground.
As persistent standing isn’t allowed in the upper tiers of the stadium, thee seats cannot be used for away fans.
Unfortunately, 1,000 seats had to be allocated to the upper tier, with the infrastructure failing to hold 9,000 away fans in the lower tier.
The Safety Advisory Group which is made up of various partners including the emergency services and police, are continuing conversations to ensure the safety of all fans.
One option put forward to ensure the tickets are used is to offer them to neutrals, such as those from community or grassroots projects, however no solution has been agreed upon at this time.
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