GAME ON FOR
CITY FACE CRUNCH SERIES OF MATCHES IN BID TO BETTER LAST SEASON’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RUN
IF CITY can emulate their best Champions League showing by reaching the semi-final next season, it will be no thanks to the Premier League.
Top clubs these days pay little heed to the announcement of the domestic fixtures because they change so much, but the release of next season’s list may cause some concern for the Blues.
Clubs often grumble that Premier League scheduling does little to help English clubs in the Champions League
One thing you do not want is domestic league games against one of your fellow ‘big six’ teams in proximity to midweek European games.
And for City to reach the semifinals, as they did in 2016, they will have to play eight games against their main title rivals within days of Champions League fixtures.
Only United could face the same number, as they have seven and possibly eight, depending on how the last 16 fixtures fall.
But Chelsea and Tottenham have just six and Liverpool, back in the Champions League for the first time in three years, face just five such fixture dilemmas.
The difficulty begins in the group stages, when City will take on Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and United either directly before or directly after a midweek European game.
But that is the norm for the other English clubs, with United, Chelsea and Liverpool all facing four such clashes.
If City reach the last 16, one of their legs will be either immediately before a trip to Arsenal or the home game with Chelsea, and again that is the same for the others.
But the fun really starts should the Blues make it to the quarter-finals, as they did in 2016.
The two legs of that game – on April 3 or 4 and April 10 or 11 - would straddle the derby on the weekend of April 7.
But following that second leg, City would then face a tough trip to Tottenham on April 14.
That total of three hard games is not seen with any other club – United of course also have to face City in the midst of a potential quarterfinal, but follow it with a home game with West Brom. Chelsea and Spurs face each other on the weekend before the first leg, with Tottenham also having that City clash to think about. But Liverpool, should they reach the quarter-finals, would find it relatively easy, with games against Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Everton surrounding the last eight. City boss Pep Guardiola is unlikely to speak out about the juxtaposition of City’s difficult fixture list, but if they reach the quarter-finals there will be some concern at that pile-up of four huge games in the space of ten days.
The Blues also begin and end the season with away games – travelling to Brighton on the weekend of August 12 for the opener, and again heading to the south coast at Southampton on May 13.
There will be some concern at the pile-up of four huge league games in ten days Stuart Brennan