Arsenal get title race boost as Premier League 'reject' Man City request

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·28 de abril de 2026

Arsenal get title race boost as Premier League 'reject' Man City request

Pep Guardiola’s domestic Treble chasers face pile-up to end season as new fixture dates confirmed

Manchester City will have to play four matches in the space of just 12 days to finish the season as they seek to beat Arsenal to the Premier League title and secure a domestic treble.

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City currently sit three points behind the Gunners - whom they recently beat 2-1 - at the top-flight summit with a game in hand, but face a fixture pile-up in May having already won the Carabao Cup and also progressed through to the FA Cup final.

Their cup success this term has caused the need for two of their league games to be rearranged, at home to Crystal Palace and away against Bournemouth.

City were originally supposed to host Conference League semi-finalists Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, March 22, only for that game to be postponed after Pep Guardiola’s side reached the Carabao Cup final on the same day, which they won 2-0 against Arsenal at Wembley thanks to Nico O’Reilly’s brace.

Bournemouth, meanwhile, were supposed to welcome City to the Vitality Stadium on Sunday, May 17 in Andoni Iraola’s final home match in charge of the Cherries, but that was also postponed after their opponents progressed to the FA Cup final, where they will return to Wembley to meet Chelsea on Saturday, May 16 after coming from behind to topple Southampton 2-1 in dramatic fashion last weekend.

The Premier League have now officially confirmed that City vs Palace will take place at 8pm BST on Wednesday, May 13, live on Sky Sports.

The trip to Bournemouth comes at 7:30pm BST on Tuesday, May 19, also on Sky Sports.

Tough challenge: Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City face a fixture pile-up at the end of the season

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City’s last game of the season is at home to Aston Villa on Sunday, May 24, meaning they play four times in 12 days to finish the campaign and face a tough stretch of three matches in just seven days ahead of the final weekend.

It was reported earlier on Tuesday that City had requested special dispensation to swap the order of their matches against Palace and Bournemouth, wanting to play Bournemouth on May 12 and Palace on May 19 in order to gain an extra day’s rest.

However, that was said to have been rejected by the Premier League.