My family (4 people total) will be visiting London in March and would like to attend an EPL match, probably Chelsea-Newcastle on Mar 14. Any suggestions for hitting the easy button on tickets without breaking the bank?

Our hotel concierge recommended buying from livefootballtickets.com, and they do have tickets available (expensive), but Chelsea FC ticketing office said they don't allow their tickets to be re-sold on 3rd party sites like that and not to use them (risk of getting scammed).

Ticketing office recommends creating official ticketing account and signing up for club membership for all family members to put ourselves in position to buy tickets directly from the club once tickets go on sale. Ticketing office says they will release on-sale info to Chelsea members "closer towards the date of the fixture," which I think is generally a couple of weeks ahead of the match, but may vary.

Also not clear to me how likely I am to get tickets if I follow the officially recommended approach. For example, if I sign up for a ticketing account and membership for all family members, is it possible tickets will sell out to members with higher status before I have an opportunity to buy?

The ticketing office did also note that I can buy hospitality packages now without being a member - basically tickets with extra perks like special access to food, lounge area, etc, but those tickets are quite expensive too (cheapest is "captain's bar" option at 425 GBP each + VAT).

Really appreciate any advice or suggestions others can offer based on experience. I'm willing to buy expensive tickets if necessary for the experience, but would prefer to understand and explore options first.

I don't know details about Chelsea specifically but I think the safest and most strait-forward way to get tickets is usually to become a club member and buy off the club's own ticket exchange. They usually are sold at fave value only.

Here is Chelsea's website if you hadn't looked at it yet: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/guide-to-using-the-ticket-exchange

I've used Footballticketdotnet a couple time including once for a match at Stamford bridge vs ManU and another match at Stamford bridge but I can't recall the opponent right now. It seems a little sketchy compared to how it's done over here but it worked out each match for us. Just don't wear the opposing fans colors and don't root against the team whose section you are in. Once they had to deliver tickets to the hotel but I think this last time I received it digitally.

You probably aren't getting tickets through a club membership at this point with a club as popular as Chelsea even through their ticket exchange.

Livefootballtickets.com is your easiest bet. Ticket touting is indeed not legal in the UK. Most of the sites operate through Spain. It is a legit site with very good safeguards to avoid getting scammed.

Club can technically confiscate tickets if they find out you've bought them through touters… but it's just not going to happen unless you or your family do something that draws attention to yourself.

We used that website to buy EPL tickets in the past. No issues

Thanks for the responses so far.

The cheapest I can get 4 tickets together on livefootballtickets.com is ~$530 per ticket (~$400 for base ticket plus ~$130 service fees and taxes).

OR I could buy the cheapest hospitality package (captain's bar) for ~$580 per ticket (425 GBP).

Since the tickets are expensive either way, feels like the incremental $50 per ticket to have fully legit tickets plus whatever benefits the hospitality package provides would be worth it.

Appreciate any additional input or suggestions.

That seems like a lot of money for a family of 4 if you're not already big fans of Chelsea.

There's several other games in London that weekend - have you explored those?

Also - it might be a nice experience to drop a level or two… it'd also potentially work better with your schedule if you're there for spring break. For example, AFC Wimbledon plays at home on both Wednesdays around March 14, so you could potentially do that instead, for a lot cheaper.

Or… Arsenal, Tottenham, and Chelsea will all host Champions League matches (opponents TBD) on March 17 or 18 (dates TBD too) if that's the week you're gonna be there. I can't imagine those tickets are easy to get, but if you're looking at $400+ already, it might be worth it to splurge for a bit more and see Champions League instead.

You should consider Brentford vs Wolves Monday night 3/16. Lmk if you want me to walk you through getting tickets. You can easily get them for about 80 pounds all in. Gtech is a sweet little stadium and Bees are quite entertaining this year. I can even give you a full user's guide for the all around experience

Thanks for the continued input. We will be in London Mar 11-14, so believe the other options on Mar 14 are Man City-West Ham (maybe $250/ticket at website mentioned above) and Leeds-Crystal Palace (maybe $190/ticket).

We went to a crystal palace match at Selhurst Park a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Smaller venue and definitely felt really cool walking through a neighborhood from the train station to get to the field (similar to Wrigley Field ). We had a six year old at the time to opted for one of the hospitality packages just to have a place we knew would be a quick place to chill if he started getting anxious.

We ended up stuck in London for a few extra days that trip due to the Eurostar track flooding, so we added a visit to Charlton athletic when they were in league 1 (a diving below their current place). Was another neat experience. The lower division games are still a lot of fun and way cheaper.

Definitely look to see if any of the championship or league 1 clubs are playing while you are there.

Also, the Leeds vs. Palace matchup would be cool to see two US Men's national team players.

I'd be a bit leery of Croydon mixed with Leeds away supporters. They are no joke. Especially if you have kids.

Millwall v Blackburn Rovers would be something

Also consider stadium tours. Craven Cottage was amazing.

Brentford v. Wolves would be a good one to go to for sure. Almost a guarantee that you'll get to see the home side win.

I got to see west ham at upton park (RIP) by joining the club and buying tickets when they became available. Wasn't terribly pricey.

Another experience to check out: non-league. It'll be cheap, fun, and the football is still good.

karmapoliceman said:

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Thanks for the continued input. We will be in London Mar 11-14, so believe the other options on Mar 14 are Man City-West Ham (maybe $250/ticket at website mentioned above) and Leeds-Crystal Palace (maybe $190/ticket).

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Aaronson vs Richards? That would be my choice and it's not even close.

59 South said:

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You should consider Brentford vs Wolves Monday night 3/16. Lmk if you want me to walk you through getting tickets. You can easily get them for about 80 pounds all in. Gtech is a sweet little stadium and Bees are quite entertaining this year. I can even give you a full user's guide for the all around experience

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I think you had season tickets to Brentford and they are almost always a fun team to watch. If I'm honest though, GTech is a pretty meh environment compared to some of the other stadiums in London. I only saw one match there though and it was a really dull one.

I really like Craven Cottage for a match quite a bit especially if you are going with your family. Tottenham and Samford Bridge I have right behind it. Samford Bridge is fun because they are a huge club in such a small stadium. Selhurst can get pretty electric too… but maybe not the most family friendly.

London Stadium is newer and stuff but it's by far the lamest environment to see a match in. Maybe just me but I lived in SW London and found it the most irritating commute to and from too.

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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Brentford v. Wolves would be a good one to go to for sure. Almost a guarantee that you'll get to see the home side win.

I got to see west ham at upton park (RIP) by joining the club and buying tickets when they became available. Wasn't terribly pricey.

Another experience to check out: non-league. It'll be cheap, fun, and the football is still good.

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You mean like going and seeing AFC Wimbledon or something like that? If so, I agree. It's a very local and neighborhood thing to do though.

Continued thanks for the feedback and ideas. To clarify on family friendly comments, my kids are teenagers, so my feeling is they will be fine in most atmospheres, assuming we're not being overly heckled by locals for being neutral. As far as things like home fans cursing at away fans or players, expect kids will be fine. Disagree?

One specific area I'd love more feedback: if I wait until a week or 2 in advance of matches to attempt to buy tickets once they are released directly from a club, how much of a risk is that? For example, if I can't get 4 tickets together that way and have to go back to the online 3rd parties a week or 2 in advance, would you expect online prices to be even higher (generally)? If online prices are likely to be relatively stable, probably no harm in waiting to try to get tickets from club directly first.

Appreciate the varied input!

You won't be heckled for being neutral. Just wear home team gear/colors or neutral and only cheer for the home team. PL clubs have complete rules on that for attendance. Otherwise you will/could be kicked out. And a jacket color won't be an issue either, it's not crazy crazy.

Beware of the secondary market like others have said. Seems like a lot are fine from that one site, but many have been scammed or not accepted (read the reviews if you haven't) from what I remember. The clubs do everything they can to keep them out.

I went to a Liverpool match last year (played their neighbor rival Everton) and it was a blast/bucket list dream come true. Was my wife and and 17 year old son. We opted for one of their official hospitality partners that included 2 nights in a hotel and great seats/and open suite area like you have been talking about with a free drink and simple food. It was about $450 per person, but worth it for us. I personally got too spooked with the reseller issues (again, it's nothing like here) and how to get into the Liverpool match was to only get the electronic pass directly from the club (according to them). Although no idea how they keep it being transferred otherwise. Anyways, this is just our experience with Liverpool. We are members of Liverpool for years and there was no chance of getting tickets that way...like most PL clubs.

Even smaller if possible. AFC Wimbledon is still League 1 (3rd tier) and full professional. That would still have quality closer to MLS and be a fantastic event.

But I was thinking something like Sutton United or Wealdstone - true non-league.

Somehow I didn't realize that we should already be within the priority 1 window for True Blue Chelsea members to purchase regular tickets from the club for the Mar 14 match. I previously purchased a "forwarding membership" (cheapest one), and don't yet have access with that, and the Chelsea system won't let me also purchase a True Blue membership on the same account.

Info online suggested to email Chelsea ticketing office, and ask them to remove the forwarding membership from my account so I can then purchase a new True Blue membership, and I have done that. (Waste of $20 for ticketing membership but whatever.)

karmapoliceman said:

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Continued thanks for the feedback and ideas. To clarify on family friendly comments, my kids are teenagers, so my feeling is they will be fine in most atmospheres, assuming we're not being overly heckled by locals for being neutral. As far as things like home fans cursing at away fans or players, expect kids will be fine. Disagree?

One specific area I'd love more feedback: if I wait until a week or 2 in advance of matches to attempt to buy tickets once they are released directly from a club, how much of a risk is that? For example, if I can't get 4 tickets together that way and have to go back to the online 3rd parties a week or 2 in advance, would you expect online prices to be even higher (generally)? If online prices are likely to be relatively stable, probably no harm in waiting to try to get tickets from club directly first.

Appreciate the varied input!

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None of the Premier League stadiums in London are dangerous or overly hostile.