Manchester City could face a hectic schedule of nine games in five weeks as progress on the FA Cup threatens to disrupt Premier League fixture changes.
Manchester City could face a backlog of problematic matches (Image: ADAM VAUGHAN/EPA/Shutterstock)
Manchester City may be out of Europe, but the Blues could still face a build-up of games in the coming weeks. Josep Guardiola’s side were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid last month, but there is still plenty of room to play on the domestic front.
The Blues won the Carabao Cup at Wembley and will face Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals at the Etihad on Saturday.
If City beat Arne Slott’s side, they could return to Wembley for the semi-finals later this month, with the final potentially taking place in May.
If this were to happen, two Premier League games would have to be rescheduled and the Blues would need to find a new date for their trip to Crystal Palace, which was already scheduled for the final weekend of the Carabao Cup, the Manchester Evening News reports.
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The repositioning is further complicated by Palace’s continued involvement in European competition, with the Eagles facing Serie A side Fiorentina in the Conference League quarter-finals next week.
If Palace progress to the last four, City’s already limited options for playing the game will become even narrower.
The Premier League confirmed this week that any matches required to be rescheduled to the FA Cup semi-final date will be played in the week commencing April 20.
If City win against Liverpool, they will face each other in the semi-finals on Saturday 24th April or Sunday 25th April. In that case, the league trip to Burnley would be scheduled between Tuesday 21st April and Thursday 23rd April.
City face Liverpool in the FA Cup at lunchtime on Saturday (Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
This means that City’s game against Palace will have to be postponed to May, with two possible dates in the week starting May 11th and the week starting May 18th.
The FA Cup final is scheduled for Saturday May 16th, and if City arrive at Wembley, that weekend’s Premier League match away to Bournemouth will also have to be rescheduled.
If such a scenario were to materialize, City would be in for a grueling run of nine games in just five weeks, starting with a blockbuster showdown between the Etihad and Arsenal on Sunday 19th April and concluding on the final day of the season on Sunday 24th May.
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