Angry Arsenal fans hit out at their club and the BBC yesterday after their quarter-final match against Manchester United was scheduled for a 7.45pm kick off on March 9.

The match will be aired live on BBC but with such a late kick-off the match will finish at 9.30pm, meaning travelling Gunner fans will miss the 9.15pm train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston.

The club said in a statement: “In the wake of this announcement, the club is exploring a number of options to help our travelling supporters get back to London afterwards.

“No return trains are currently timetabled and we will let supporters know the proposed travel plans as soon as possible.”

Should fans opt to drive to the match it is a four-hour journey, meaning supporters would have to miss a day’s work, possibly two.

Fans on Twitter pointed out that Saturday’s match between West Brom and Aston Villa is a local derby and that there is only one live game on the Sunday, Liverpool v Blackburn.

Everton’s FA Cup third-round tie against West Ham was moved to a Tuesday night for TV coverage, much to the anger of the travelling Hammers’s fans.