Arsenal have voiced strong opposition to Crystal Palace’s request that their Carabao Cup quarter-final be played on 23 December, with Mikel Arteta insisting it would not be fair to make both teams play two matches in little more than 48 hours.

The tie is scheduled for Tuesday 16 December in a gruelling run of three matches in five days for Palace, who have a Premier League game at home to Manchester City two days earlier and a Conference League fixture against KuPS on 18 December.

With Arsenal facing Wolves at home 24 hours before Palace play City, Palace are believed to have argued that both teams should be given equal time to prepare for the quarter-final.

They would have accepted playing on Christmas Eve to give the players three days’ recovery time from their matches on Sunday 21 December but that was quickly ruled out after discussions with the Metropolitan police and Transport for London owing to concerns about the availability of public transport, with rail and tube services due to stop early.

Arsenal, as the home club in charge of matchday operations, were strongly opposed to playing on Christmas Eve. Wolves faced Chelsea on 24 December two years...