Pep Guardiola has voiced his frustration after the Premier League denied Manchester City’s request to adjust their fixture schedule, potentially impacting their push for a top-five finish. The City boss is unhappy with what he perceives as unfair treatment compared to other clubs competing in finals.
City are set to face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley, a high-profile clash, before taking on Bournemouth in the Premier League just three days later. Originally, their league match against Bournemouth was scheduled for Sunday evening to avoid conflicting with the FA Cup semifinals, which had no games planned for Friday or Saturday.
However, the Premier League later allowed Chelsea and Manchester United to move their fixture to Friday night. Additionally, when Tottenham reached the Europa League final, their match against Aston Villa was also rescheduled for Friday to ensure both finalists had equal recovery time before the midweek final.
While Guardiola supports those decisions, he pointed out a pattern of City’s similar requests being denied during his nine-year tenure. Last season, City had to play an FA Cup semifinal on a Saturday just days after a grueling Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday—marking the fourth consecutive year they faced such a tight turnaround while other semifinalists had no midweek games.
This time, Guardiola expressed his preference for an extra day of rest before the Bournemouth clash, but the league rejected their appeal to move the game to Wednesday. He hinted that the congested schedule could force him to rotate his squad, putting key players at risk in two critical matches within four days.
“Tottenham play Villa on Friday before the Europa League final—a good decision, and I’m not being sarcastic,” Guardiola said. “The Premier League made the right call. But when we had Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, we always had to play FA Cup semifinals on Saturday. This season, we played on Sunday, but we didn’t need that extra day.”
He dismissed suggestions that broadcast demands influenced the decision, stating, “People say it’s about viewership, but last year, our game didn’t have the most followers. Maybe they’re tired of seeing us.”
Guardiola emphasized the physical challenge of facing Bournemouth—a team fighting for European qualification—on short rest. “I would’ve preferred Wednesday, but we’ll deal with it. United and Spurs got their adjustments—why not us? It’s been nine years of this, and nothing changes.”
Despite his irritation, Guardiola acknowledged that the schedule won’t drastically alter his plans but reiterated his disappointment with the lack of consistency in decision-making.
