Manchester City have been handed a fresh advantage over title rivals Arsenal following the Premier League's latest fixture schedule announcement. The Gunners have seen the clash against London rivals Chelsea, that was due to be played on Saturday April 29, rescheduled for Tuesday May 2.
The club announced the decision on Tuesday in a statement which read: "The Premier League has announced that our home league match against Chelsea will now take place on Tuesday, May 2, kicking off at 8pm (UK time). This change has been made as a result of the Metropolitan Police revising its position on policing the match.
"After working to try to find a solution with the Met Police, we are very disappointed with the impact and disruption this fixture change will cause to our supporters, particularly after this match had been initially approved for a Saturday evening kick-off."
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City are still awaiting confirmation regarding a rearranged date for their fixture against Brighton with the game having been postponed due to both teams' involvement in the FA Cup. The Premier League's decision to move Arsenal's clash against Chelsea now means that Pep Guardiola's side will play before the Gunners in that gameweek.
In fact, City will now play before Arsenal in four of the seven game weeks that both teams feature in between now and the end of the season. One of the other three game weeks will see City welcome Arsenal to the Etihad Stadium, so both teams will therefore play at the same time.
This could be a huge advantage for Guardiola's side as they look to put pressure on the Gunners each week in the hope of seeing the Premier League leaders slip up in the title race and drop points - as they did against Liverpool last weekend. The change in fixtures for Arsenal now means they have less time to prepare for their trip to St. James' Park to face Newcastle - a ground where the Gunners lost at the end of last season as they missed out on Champions League football.
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