Audio By Carbonatix
Manchester City have been left frustrated as they face a fixture pile-up of four games in 11 days next month following the rescheduling of two key matches in the race for the Premier League title.
Pep Guardiola's side will host Crystal Palace on Wednesday, 13 May and travel to Bournemouth six days later, with the FA Cup final against Chelsea taking place in between on Saturday, 16 May.
The Palace game was originally scheduled for 22 March but had to be postponed because of City's participation in the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal, while the Bournemouth match was pushed back because of a clash with the FA Cup final.
City, Palace and Bournemouth had been involved in dialogue with the Premier League over the dates for the games, which have now been resolved.
Premier League leaders Arsenal also face a run of three games in seven days - Mikel Arteta's men travel to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, host Fulham in the league on Saturday, before their second leg against Atletico next Tuesday.
City's remaining fixtures
- 4 May: Everton (a)
- 9 May: Brentford (h)
- 13 May: Crystal Palace (h)
- 16 May: FA Cup final v Chelsea
- 19 May: Bournemouth (a)
- 24 May: Aston Villa (h)
City face arduous task following fixture rescheduling
Manchester City's frustrations stem from the length of time it has taken for the Crystal Palace game to be confirmed and feel the principle of rescheduling games at the earliest moment has not been followed.
City argue the Premier League knew about the need to rearrange that game on 4 February, when City beat Newcastle to book their place in the Carabao Cup final, but it has taken almost three months to come to this decision.
But it is understood that the Premier League decided to wait until after the FA Cup semi-finals to announce this, to give supporters more certainty in the scheduling of fixtures.
City had offered three different alternatives for the Palace fixture in the weeks beginning on 20 and 27 April, as well as 4 May, but the Burnley game was rescheduled for the first option, and Oliver Glasner's side's participation in the Europa Conference League ruled out the others.
Uefa do not want any fixtures to clash with the Europa League final on Wednesday, 20 May - which is why the Bournemouth fixture is now taking place on the previous day - yet it is pointed out 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 put forward the scenario of potentially facing Bournemouth on 12 May and the Palace game to take place sometime during the following week - that would have allowed an extra day to recover for the Wembley showpiece and to play their final two league games of the season at home.
While City wanted to play the game against Palace on Tuesday, 19 May, this did not seem to take into account the Eagles' game against Brentford.
That game has to be played on Sunday, 17 May as the FA Cup final takes place the day before, so there was no realistic prospect that Palace would be told to play again 48 hours later when there were other options available.
Sources say the 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 the Cherries has instead been put into the week after.
It leaves second-placed City with an arduous three games in seven days with a lot of travelling involved during the most crucial part of the campaign when they are chasing a domestic treble.
Latest Stories
-
Current NPP leadership must accept responsibility for 2024 defeat and step aside – Frances Essiam
11 minutes -
Washington state wildfires force 60,000 people to evacuate homes
12 minutes -
Russia says seven killed and 40 injured by Ukrainian drone hitting busy beach
12 minutes -
France hits out at Reform UK plan to return migrants using Navy
12 minutes -
England midfielder Henderson joins Chelsea
15 minutes -
IERPP calls for consistent enforcement of political speech laws, urges review of false publication offences
24 minutes -
OMCs begin GH¢2 diesel price reduction following Mahama directive – COMAC
27 minutes -
Joy FM’s ‘Weekend City Show’ crowned Comic Radio Show of the Year at 2026 Ghana Comedy Awards
34 minutes -
Man jailed for keeping mom’s dead body in freezer for nearly 3 years
38 minutes -
Rhine falls to record low levels as drought strains Europe’s rivers
38 minutes -
Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira MP cuts sod for entrance project at Axim Government Hospital
44 minutes -
Photos: Mahama begins Jamaica state visit
44 minutes -
Diesel relief not funded from power sector resources – Energy Ministry
50 minutes -
Boardroom reflections: Preserving governance in disagreements
59 minutes -
The government’s greatest success story is storytelling
1 hour