Arsenal night Cup kick-off ban

Arsenal's FA Cup fourth-round clash with Liverpool will not be screened at the BBC's prime time slot of 7pm on Sunday 27 January because of police fears over crowd control problems, it emerged today.

After the weekend's third-round programme was marred by scenes of crowd violence at Cardiff's game with Leeds and pitch invasions at Aston Villa's match with Manchester United, police and the Football Association are not leaving anything to chance.

The Metropolitan Police has a policy of preventing London clubs from staging Sunday evening games because of the likelihood that supporters would start drinking at lunch time and keep going until kick-off.

That policy is to be adhered to, despite representations from the BBC.

The BBC, which shares the television rights to the FA Cup with BSkyB, wanted to show the Highbury game in their new showcase Sunday evening spot. The match is a repeat of last season's Final and the most attractive tie of the next round. Discussions are now taking place about staging it at 1pm so that the BBC can screen it then.

The Met Police has particular concerns about the fourth-round fixture programme because of the potential for six ties in London over the Cup weekend.

Charlton, Millwall, Tottenham, Chelsea, Wimbledon and Arsenal could all be at home if they come through postponed third round matches and replays over the next two weeks.

A police spokesman said: "We have an agreement that we don't do 7pm on a Sunday throughout London.

"We have been in discussions with the FA which knows that we can do 12pm, 2pm or 4pm instead. There are a lot of complex issues to be sorted out because there could be so many teams in London on the same day."

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