Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that he expected his side's Europa League game with FC Koln to be postponed amid the scenes of chaos inside and outside of the Emirates last night.
Around 45 minutes before the game's scheduled 8.05pm kickoff, the club took the decision to delay the start by one hour as thousands of ticketless German fans attempted to gain unauthorised access to the ground.
Police made five arrests on the night and eventually managed to gain control of the situation, but Wenger admits that in the interim, he was already contemplating how the game could be rearranged into an already-busy schedule.
"We waited patiently in our dressing room," he recalled to reporters after the game, which Arsenal won 3-1. "But it was difficult for me, I had all kinds of plans to think about at some stage. Do we play tomorrow, what time do we want to play, do we play next week?
"They had the Bundesliga game next week, we had a League Cup game next week, do we move it to Tuesday and play Thursday?
"All kinds of situations we had to analyse. At some stage I thought they will not play the game, because I can't see the police taking any risk.
"We live in a 100% security society and I thought they would not take a gamble to play this game. But I must say our supporters dealt well with the situation and there was no aggravation."
The hosting club is normally fined by UEFA for any delay to kickoff, although Arsenal are expected to avoid sanctions as UEFA was kept informed of developments for the unprecedented scenes at the Emirates.
Neil Wilkes
