Pep Guardiola’s Man City fixture fury set to reach boiling point as worst-case scenario outlined

Pep Guardiola’s Man City fixture fury set to reach boiling point as worst-case scenario outlined

Pep Guardiola has criticised the fixture schedule for years and will be hoping that Manchester City get a lucky break in May after the final Premier League games of the season were rearranged.

 

Pep Guardiola has a relatively relaxing four days between the tiring trip to Madrid this week and a preferential Premier League clash with Luton at the Etihad on Saturday. After that, Manchester City have another four days to prepare for the second leg in the Champions League quarter-final, but a baffling turnaround before the FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea follows that to sum up the fixture farce that characterises the run-in.

 

Luton will be the last time City play at 3pm on a Saturday this season, with each remaining Premier League fixture selected for TV coverage. As a result, City’s games are scheduled erratically to bend to the whims of the broadcasters, with two key away trips still to get a confirmed date.

 

With the last fixtures of the season confirmed on Wednesday, setting up a final-week trip to Tottenham which could be title-defining. That means two trips to London in four days after a Saturday lunchtime visit to Fulham, with up to six trips to the capital still to come in the final six weeks of the season, should City get to the two finals they are aiming for and meet Arsenal in the Champions League.

 

 

If Guardiola wants to look for a consolation, Liverpool and Arsenal are also affected by the strange scheduling. They are both waiting for confirmation of key games that will depend on whether the Gunners and/or City progress to the Champions League semi-finals. Each of the three title contenders has a Saturday 12.30pm kick-off after (potentially) big midweek games, and the three sides will also be affected by European progress, with Liverpool targeting the Europa League.

 

City have the chance to go top of the table if they beat Luton, with their rivals playing on Sunday, but then see Liverpool and Arsenal play a game more when they are in FA Cup action. By the time the Blues play Brighton (currently scheduled for a Thursday night kick-off), they could be seven points adrift of top spot.

 

That gap would be maintained, assuming each side keeps winning, until City’s lunchtime trip to Fulham on May 11, but that journey to West London comes just two-and-a-half days after a potential Champions League semi-final second leg.

 

If City get past Real Madrid, a semi-final against Bayern Munich or Arsenal would be held across two legs either on Tuesday April 30 and Wednesday May 8, or on Wednesday May 1 and Tuesday May 7. If the first leg is on the Tuesday, then the Brighton and Nottingham Forest games will both move forward 24 hours at minimal notice, and there will be that tight turnaround for the Fulham game.

 

There doesn’t appear to be any scope to move the trip to Craven Cottage, so City would have to hope that UEFA are kind if they are scheduling another semi-final for the Blues. But with Arsenal potential opponents, and with fixtures of their own set to move if that clash is on the Tuesday and Wednesday, there is no simple fix for UEFA to help the Premier League.

 

City could play a Champions League semi-final second leg, a must-win Premier League lunchtime away trip, and a huge game-in-hand at Tottenham in the space of six days. And then go again five days later on a final day that could be pivotal.

 

 

So when Guardiola prepares to rotate his squad against Luton he will be hoping the fixture gods look kindly on that penultimate week of the season to avoid a nightmare run of games. History, however, suggests those particular gods are not on City’s side.