Why are Manchester City playing on a Wednesday against Crystal Palace?
City and Palace are the only Premier League teams in action this evening.
The Premier League rumbles on towards its dramatic conclusion, with Arsenal and Manchester City battling it out at the top for the title. There are only a handful of points in play at this late stage, and every game is life or death.
For Palace, things are less heart-thumping on the domestic front. They are comfortably safe in mid-table, just below Leeds United, and have their entire season pointing towards Leipzig, where they will take on Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League final on May 27.
These two sides are the only clubs in action tonight (Wednesday), and the reason is simple: due to an extra number of games in both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, City’s game against Palace was pushed back to the nearest available date.
“They have a European final so maybe they struggle a little bit in the Premier League”
City beat Arsenal 2-0 in March to win the Carabao Cup and they got past Southampton to make it to the FA Cup final, which will be played this weekend against Chelsea. As such, they will not play in the Premier League match day this Sunday.
On coming up against Palace, Guardiola said: “it has always been tough games, particularly under Roy Hodgson and now Oliver [Glasner]. They have a European final so maybe they struggle a little bit in the Premier League but there is a lot of changes, manager is leaving, announced a long time ago and maybe they are not consistent but the quality is there. The patent is there.”
When asked about the title race, Guardiola said that the pressure was “the same,” adding that “we arrive good, in terms of the squad” and both Rodri and Khusanov could return to action.
“We lost the two FA Cup finals because the referees didn’t do their job”
Where he was more interesting was when asked about VAR. Various calls have caused a stir over the past weeks, with Arsenal being awarded a free-kick in the dying minutes of their game against West Ham, denying their opponents a goal.
“We lost the two FA Cup finals because the referees didn’t do their job that they should do,” he admitted. “Even the VAR. When this happened, it’s because we have to do better. Not the referees. I have never trusted anything [with VAR] since I arrived a long time ago.”
“That [VAR] is a flip of a coin. You have to do it better yourself. That is Crystal Palace, focus, focus and focus. Of course, it’s not in our hands in this Premier League. I always said to the players when I arrived here and in Barcelona and Bayern Munich: ‘Guys do it better’. The other one is a job for the statements and institutions which rule the competition.”
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