Man City ask for help from Premier League bosses ahead of Arsenal title battle

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Manchester City have asked Premier League bosses for help with their fixture pile-up.

City boss Pep Guardiola has been left facing three games in seven days ahead of the final weekend of the season. But it has caused a backlash from other clubs who have railed against Treble-chasing City getting any special favours from the Premier League fixture schedule.

City clinched their place in the FA Cup final which will be played at Wembley on Saturday, May 16. That has caused their game at Bournemouth - originally due to be played on May 17 - to be rescheduled while they also have a home game with Crystal Palace to be reorganised.

The normal Premier League directive is that the first game in the calendar takes priority and should be played first to protect the integrity of the fixture schedule.

However, it is believed that City asked for the games to be “flipped” to give them an extra day of recovery ahead of the FA Cup final.

Palace are due to play Everton on Sunday, May 10, because of their Europa Conference League commitments the previous Thursday. That means Palace can only play their game at the Etihad on Wednesday May 13 which gives City one less day to recover for their date at Wembley.

They are due to play Bournemouth on Tuesday, May 19, because the Europa League final is the following day and UEFA do not like domestic fixtures clashing with European dates. It can happen in exceptional circumstances but, bearing in mind a Premier League team is certain to be involved, UEFA would not be in favour of a clash on May 20.

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It means City face an exhausting schedule and a tough trip to Bournemouth just three days after the FA Cup final in two games which will go a long way to deciding whether they will win the Treble this season.

It is also incredibly tough on the City fanbase considering they were not able to sell their full allocation for the FA Cup semi final with many complaining about the cost.

The Premier League have yet to confirm the fixtures but clearly have to take into account the wishes of the fanbases from Palace and Bournemouth with the latter planning for the 19th to be Andoni Iraola’s final home game.

It is understood clubs voiced concerns about last minute fixture switches and inconveniencing fans as well as the issue of breaking with tradition of the Premier League directive of when games should be played.

Arsenal may also be happy that City face a potentially difficult trip to Bournemouth on the Tuesday with both sides going head-to-head for the title.

The TV schedule has yet to be confirmed but Arsenal’s final home game with Burnley is also up for discussion as it could be played on Monday May 18 while Tottenham ’s crunch trip to Chelsea has yet to be scheduled.

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