Inside Manchester City’s Premier League battle over Crystal Palace and Bournemouth fixture scheduling | OneFootball

Manchester City officials have been left furious over the handling of fixture scheduling for meetings with Crystal Palace and Bournemouth in the final matches of the season.

Pep Guardiola’s Premier League title-chasing squad are confirmed to now be playing three times in seven days before the final weekend of the top-flight campaign, when they will host Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium.

Official confirmation of the rescheduled matches sees Manchester City welcome Crystal Palace to the Etihad Stadium on May 13 before the FA Cup final against Chelsea, before travelling to Bournemouth on May 19.

Those final fixture announcements follow a relentless run of form that has seen Pep Guardiola’s side surge for the Premier League summit after a clinical 1-0 victory at Burnley last Wednesday night.

With the FA Cup Final now confirmed for mid-May against Chelsea, the club is facing a physically punishing end to the campaign that will see them play three high-stakes matches in just seven days.

Why Man City are furious with the Premier League

According to MailSport’s Jack Gaughan, Manchester City have been left ‘infuriated’ by the Premier League’s lack of proactivity around rearranging games, with the key element of complaint revolving around the rearrangement of the home clash with Crystal Palace.

The original date of the clash with Oliver Glasner’s side was on Carabao Cup final weekend on February 4, and club sources argue the Premier League had plenty of time to organise an alternative date.

City are reportedly also ‘baffled’ at how the Turf Moor clash with Burnley was immediately slotted around the FA Cup semi-finals, while the principle of rescheduling games at the earliest possible opportunity has not been followed in the eyes of those within the Etihad.

The Premier League are claimed to have referenced that all semi-finalists should play in the first available midweek before the game at Wembley, although City insist the handbook of the English top-flight makes no reference to such an idea.

Man City’s Palace and Bournemouth proposals

Regarding the clash against Crystal Palace, Manchester City are said to have put forward three different midweeks for the game, the most logical being the week beginning April 19, allowing for the away trip to Burnley to be played seven days later.

The Premier League are claimed to have indicated that Palace’s visit to the Etihad during the third week of April could work, before announcing that Glasner’s side would host West Ham on a Monday night to directly prevent those plans.

Regarding the meeting with Bournemouth, Manchester City are said to have put forward the prospect of going to the South Coast on Thursday, May 21 but that was rejected by the Premier League despite initial reception to the idea.

How Man City can now be impacted by the schedule

The three-game week would leave Pep Guardiola’s squad with very limited recovery time as they enter the final weekend of the season on May 24, potentially with the Premier League title still up for grabs.

Club officials will also be particularly concerned about the travel involved, noting that a south coastal trip from Manchester just 72 hours after a cup final is a far cry from the player welfare standards the league will no doubt claim to uphold privately.