Pep Guardiola showed his displeasure with the Premier League for giving Manchester City less time to prepare for their vital game against Bournemouth.
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Coach furious with PL organisersHe wanted more time to prepare City face Cherries three days after finalFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Guardiola believes the match at home to Bournemouth, which will have huge ramifications for his side's bid to finish in the Premier League's top five and qualify for next season's Champions League, should have been rescheduled for Wednesday rather than Tuesday to give his side more time to recover from Saturday's FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.
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City were due to play Bournemouth on Saturday but the game had to be moved due to their participation in the cup final. Guardiola contrasted City being given such a short turnaround time between their games with Tottenham's match at Aston Villa being moved to this Friday to give Spurs more time to prepare for the Europa League final against Manchester United.
WHAT GUARDIOLA SAID
Guardiola told a press conference: "Tottenham play against Villa on Friday [because of] the Europa League final. Good decision, [I'm not being] ironic or sarcastic. The Premier League made a good decision. We play all the time quarter-finals, semi finals, Wednesday away and then play semi-finals on Saturday. This season we played [the semi-final against Nottingham Forest] on Sunday [when] we didn't need the extra day. People say broadcasters and more fans, I would prefer to play Wednesday definitely."
DID YOU KNOW?
Guardiola believes City's concerns are never taken seriously by competition organisers. Last year he lashed out at Gary Lineker after the ordered City to play their FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea three days after their Champions League quarter-final clash with Real Madrid – which went into extra-time – when they could have played a day later. He explained: "We have been nine years fighting against this situation every single season. We are going to play Tuesday night, against an intense, physical, powerful team, Bournemouth, who are playing for the Europa league and we have to deal with that."
