Manchester City have been left frustrated at Premier League’s recent fixtures decisions in the title race against Arsenal. City’s request to switch matches to ease their schedule was rejected.
Pep Guardiola’s team will host Crystal Palace on Wednesday, 13 May and travel to Bournemouth six days later. They will also play the FA Cup final against Chelsea scheduled for Saturday, May 16.
The game against Palace was originally scheduled for 22 March but had to be postponed due to City’s participation in the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal. Then the Bournemouth game was pushed back because of a clash with the FA Cup final.
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Why Manchester City are fuming at Premier League’s decision
However, City are unhappy about the length of time it has taken for the Palace game to be confirmed. They argue the Premier League knew about the need to rearrange that game on 4 February, when City beat Newcastle to advance to the Carabao Cup final. But it took almost three months to come to this decision. The Premier League decided to wait until after the FA Cup semi-final to announce rescheduling the fixtures.
City had originally proposed different alternatives for the Palace fixture in the weeks beginning 20, 27 April, and May 4. But the Burnley game was chosen for the first date and Palace had Europa Conference League games which ruled out the other dates.
To avoid clash with the Europa League final on Wednesday, 20 May, the Bournemouth game will take place on May 19. Yet City pointed out that that Arsenal were given permission to play their league game at Wolves on 18 February despite four Champions League knockout matches taking place on the same night.
City had offered to play Bournmouth on May 12 and Palace sometime in the following week to allow the team enough time to rest from the Wembley showpiece and play the remaining two games at home. Guardiola’s side also wanted to play the game against Palace on Tuesday, 19 May, but the FA Cup final takes place the day before.
Reports claim Premier League have referenced a principle which states that all FA Cup semi‑finalists should play in the first available midweek before those matches. But the game against Palace was scheduled after the matches.
The rescheduled fixtures means second-placed City will play three games in seven days with a lot of travelling involved. This can impact the team’s performance in their chase for a third Premier League title in four years.
