Commuters advised to plan ahead of a hectic Wednesday in the city

The city Metrolink service is set to be extremely busy on Wednesday evening

Commuters are being urged to plan their journeys ahead of Wednesday night (December 5) as roads in and out of the city centre are expected to be much busier than usual.

On Wednesday night, Manchester United take on Arsenal in front of 75,000 fans at Old Trafford.

Coupled with the ongoing improvement work taking place on the Manchester and Salford inner relief route, and many more people now visiting the Christmas Markets, journeys could take longer during the evening peak.

Those able to should consider using public transport, travelling outside of the evening peak or simply staying in the city centre to do a bit of festive shopping or savouring a mulled wine or two at the Christmas Markets.

Also, with no trains operating between Manchester and London after 9.15pm, four supporter coaches will be used by Arsenal to bring some fans to Manchester.

However, with over 2,500 away tickets sold it’s expected that many more will travel up by car.

To help fans get to the match, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have created a bespoke match travel advice page and will again be trialling free shuttle buses direct to Old Trafford from two new pop-up park and ride sites at the AJ Bell Stadium and Event City, close to the Trafford Centre.

Ryan Carter, Events and Planning lead at TfGM, said: “We have thousands of park and ride spaces available across Greater Manchester, including Sale Water Park, Ladywell and Ashton, all of which help people to avoid getting caught up in traffic on the roads.

“We’d also encourage fans travelling to Old Trafford to also consider using one of our new pop-up sites at the AJ Bell Stadium and Event City as they offer free and direct bus services to the ground.

"For anyone travelling on the night our advice is to follow the TfGM social media channels for real-time up travel information."

For the latest travel advice on the Manchester and Salford Inner Relief Route please visit the dedicated TfGM page at tfgm.com/regent-road.

For general information on public transport across Greater Manchester visit: www.tfgm.com, call 0161 244 1000 (7am-8pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am-8pm at weekends and bank holidays) or follow @OfficialTfGM on Twitter.

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