Manchester City face a fixture pile-up of four games in 11 days next month after the Premier League confirmed the rescheduled dates for two of their key matches in the title race.
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 for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, host Fulham in the league on Saturday, and then face Atletico again in the second leg 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)
Premier League not receptive to City alternatives
Manchester City have been left frustrated by the time it has taken to confirm the Crystal Palace game, and feel the principle of rescheduling at the earliest opportunity has not been followed.
The Premier League knew 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 reach this decision.
It is understood City had offered three different alternatives for the Palace fixture in the weeks beginning 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 other.
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 Palace a week later, which 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 Manchester City wanted to play the game against Crystal 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 other options were available.
Sources say the Premier League has referenced a principle stating 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 moved to the week after.
It leaves City with an arduous three-game stretch in seven days, with a lot of traveling during the most crucial part of the campaign, when they are chasing a domestic treble.
