Bernardo Silva is right to complain this time | OneFootball

Bernardo Silva has complained about unfairness in the schedule for Arsenal’s match against Manchester City, with City facing the same problem Arsenal had last year.

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Though both Arsenal and Manchester City were in action in the Champions League in midweek, the Gunners definitely had more recovery time before their match against Pep Guardiola’s side on Sunday.

Arsenal played away in Bilbao on Tuesday, in the 17:45 kick-off (UK time). By contrast, City played at home to Napoli on Thursday at 20:00.

The Gunners had more than two days extra time to rest, albeit that they had to travel across the continent and City didn’t. Bernardo Silva was upset about the pre-match disparity after Sunday’s game.

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“We cannot come to one of the most important games in the season with such a disadvantage, in terms of rest,” Silva said. “It is not fair to play one of these games like this. It is just not right. They had five days, and we had two-and-a-half days. In one of the most important games, this cannot happen.

“I feel it is just frustrating that we couldn’t be at our best level simply because of the decision of someone that thinks it is fair to come away after two-and-a-half less days than Arsenal.

“I felt the difference in the first half. If you play at the highest level you know that two days playing against one of the best teams in the league, away, with the travel, you need at least one more day to recover.

“It doesn’t matter if Arsenal had four, five or six days [to recover], just give us one more day, and that gives us three-and-a-half days. Then you make it an even game.

“When you are playing an Arsenal vs City or a City vs Liverpool or Liverpool vs Arsenal, you need to have a bit of common sense, and understanding of these situations and in such an important game, the players need to be in the same physical conditions otherwise I don’t think it is fair.

“I know it might have happened to other teams in the past. It did not feel like we were in the same physical condition as them.”

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Silva is certainly right to suggest it’s happened to other teams in the past, as it happened to Arsenal just last year.

The Gunners had to play against Atalanta on the Thursday, before travelling away to Manchester City themselves on the Sunday. In many ways, given the Atalanta match was away from home, Arsenal actually had it worse than City.

But whilst it’s tempting to suggest it evens out, particularly when it’s serial whiner Bernardo Silva making the argument, the reality is that neither team should have been put in these situations.

If UEFA insist on forcing Thursday Champions League games down our throats, an addition nobody was asking for, then they could at least ensure that those Thursday matches are allocated to teams that don’t face a fellow Champions League side at the weekend.

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If Bayern Munich played on Thursday before a game against Hoffenheim on the Sunday, there wouldn’t be the same sense of UEFA handing one team an unneccessary disadvantage. Hoffenheim weren’t playing in midweek anyway, they were always going to have more rest.

Yet for the second year in a row, one of Arsenal and Manchester City have been given the Thursday fixture before a game between Arsenal and Manchester City. And those midweek games were scheduled in full knowledge of the weekend fixtures.

So even if there is a bit of a sense of City getting what they deserved after gaining an unfair advantage last year, this nonsense should end now.

If UEFA want to add these ridiculous new TV slots to bank themselves more money, they need to have more consideration of the domestic schedule.