Manchester City are said to be ‘furious’ at the Premier League boosting Arsenal’s title hopes by refusing to alter their fixtures…
Man City have become accustomed to butting heads with the Premier League over recent years.
But while everyone assumes that Pep Guardiola‘s side will escape their Financial Fair Play case with little or no punishment, they have not got their way with the Premier League regarding their fixture schedule for the run-in.
Up until Tuesday evening, it was unclear when Man City would have their games against AFC Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, with their progression to the FA Cup final adding an extra complication.
Man City submitted a request to the Premier League for these games to be spread out to allow more recovery time, with the club hoping to play Bournemouth away first, thus leaving home matches against Palace and Aston Villa to finish their Premier League campaign.
Unsurprisingly, though, the Premier League have ‘rejected’ this request, so Man City will now face Palace (Wednesday 13 May) and Bournemouth (Tuesday 19 May) in back-to-back midweeks, with these potentially decisive matches falling either side of the FA Cup final vs Chelsea (Saturday 16 May).
READ: Guardiola rocked by Romano as Junior Kroupi can get ‘most important’ thing at Chelsea
So that is three matches over seven days for Man City, who talkSPORT say are ‘furious’ at the Premier League’s decision.
It is noted that ‘several clubs made the point informally to the Premier League’ that it is ‘not protocol to switch the order of fixtures unless forced to’, while they would have made a ‘formal complaint’ had Man City been given back-to-back home games to finish their Premier League campaign.
Arsenal’s ‘unfortunate’ title disadvantage removed…
And it is pretty safe to assume that Arsenal are one of the aforementioned clubs to battle against Man City’s request, which would have given them an unfair advantage over the Gunners in the run-in.
This is especially because Arsenal, as pointed out by Jamie Carragher, have been handed an ‘unfortunate’ disadvantage in the title race by having two legs against Atletico Madrid and Saturday’s home match against Fulham over six days.
READ MORE: Arsenal 3 Man City 4 in Premier League XI of season so far
Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football: “I feel Arsenal have been unfortunate, and I know this playing Champions League semi finals, when you play Wednesday then Tuesday that’s a big difference between Tuesday then Wednesday.
“You’re actually playing three games in six days, rather than three games in eight days. It’s a massive difference at this stage of the season.
“That’s why I really worry for Arsenal about this (the Fulham game). You play away and have to travel, Fulham are a good and decent side and then you’ve got to go again on the Tuesday night.
“They’ve been very unfortunate the way the games have fallen. Three games in six days is really tough.”
So, suck it up, Man City.
The Premier League could not be found to give preferential treatment, and this decision simply means there is a level playing field with title rivals Arsenal for the run-in.
For their part, the Gunners, after their immense spending and the removal of this disadvantage, have no remaining excuse for their latest potential failure to win the Premier League title.
READ NEXT: Premier League 2025/26 prize money table predicted
