Featured Image: Nelson Ndongala on Unsplash
Arsenal’s opening Premier League match against Nottingham Forest at Emirates Stadium was delayed by 30 minutes on Saturday, following an issue with gaining entry.
A reported 35,000 fans were still stuck outside the stadium at the scheduled kick-off time of 12:30, due to a problem with the turnstiles.
The game eventually got underway at 13:00 as more supporters were able to enter the ground.
According to the BBC, it was the first time Arsenal has used the new e-ticketing system for a Premier League game.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta apologised to the supporters after the match, which the home team won 2-1 thanks to goals from Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka.
As reported by the Associated Press, Arteta said: “I apologise to all of them for what happened. We will look at what happened, try to improve it … thank you to everyone for their patience that they had, thank you as well to the referees and Forest for allowing the kickoff to be delayed so that we could have the atmosphere that we deserved to play a Premier League match in.”
Arsenal said in a statement to TheTicketingBusiness: “Following delays at the turnstiles ahead of our fixture against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, kick-off was delayed by 30 minutes.
“We apologise to supporters for the inconvenience and thank them for their patience and support. All supporters were admitted into the stadium safely ahead of the 13:00 kick-off.
“The issue will be investigated to ensure we do everything possible to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“We would also like to thank our staff who worked hard to get everyone to their seats safely in time for the revised kick-off time.”
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