Crystal Palace will conclude their Premier League campaign against Arsenal on Sunday before quickly turning their attention towards the Europa Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano just three days later.
The Eagles could previously have played a decisive role in the Premier League title race, but Arsenal have already secured the title before the final round of fixtures. As a result, the significance of the match has changed considerably, with the focus now shifting more towards preparations for Palace’s European final.
Palace Wanted Earlier Fixture
Manager Oliver Glasner has revealed that Palace requested permission from the Premier League to move the Arsenal fixture to Saturday to gain additional preparation time before their European final.
The request was reportedly made after Palace recognised that their opponents in the Conference League final would benefit from an extra day of recovery and preparation. However, the Premier League rejected the proposal because all final day fixtures are scheduled to take place simultaneously.
Glasner explained that Palace believed the circumstances justified flexibility, particularly as the title race had already been settled before the final round of matches.
Glasner Explains Premier League Decision
According to ESPN, Glasner discussed the club’s unsuccessful request and outlined the reasons provided by the Premier League for maintaining the original schedule.
He said: “I asked, we tried to move the game to Saturday because this would help us, this would help us for Wednesday giving us one more day.
“Because Vallecano play Saturday evening. The league has already been decided.
“It was Wednesday morning so of course after Tuesday night’s game, we were thinking about it before, but we didn’t call the Premier League and say ‘move the game’ if you don’t know if the title race will be decided on the last match day, but it didn’t work. Short answer.
“There’s contractual issues, TV rights and everyone wants the big final day with the trophy for Arsenal.”
Crystal Palace will now have to manage their preparations carefully as they attempt to balance domestic duties with one of the biggest European matches in the club’s history.
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European countries help out their clubs in important games, such a shame we don’t 🙄🤬
No one is stopping them from playing their reserves or Under -18s.
Much ado about nothing.
Well they may well face a fine/disciplinary action for doing that.
This is what makes me laugh at the end of every season. Yes I get why all games are deemed fit for the same time kickoff.
But what makes me laugh is the explanation given regards this. According to the power’s that be, it’s so it’s fair for all teams playing on the final day.
Well what about the previous 37 games where kick-off times are all over the place. Are they then saying that fairness only comes into it on the final day every season.
As I say, it makes me laugh every season.
And HD, I’m with you on this. This country doesn’t seem to care about fairness when helping their own teams in Europe. It’s almost as if they want them to fail.
The last day is their best chance to make out like the football is more important than any money considerations driving the other scheduling.