Crystal Palace have failed in an attempt to bring this weekend’s game with Arsenal forward by 24 hours to assist their preparations for the Uefa Conference League final because of stringent TV contracts.
As Arsenal became champions on Tuesday, their game at Selhurst Park is now a dead rubber and this prompted Palace officials to raise with the Premier League the prospect of a switch.
Rayo Vallecano, Palace’s opponents in Leipzig next Wednesday, had their final La Liga game against Alavés brought forward to Saturday evening – the remainder of the Spanish games will be played on Sunday – and switches of such nature are commonplace on the continent.
Not for the first time this season, though, Palace have received no assistance and Oliver Glasner, the head coach who is bringing his spell in south London to a close, wearily acknowledged his players must do things the hard way again.
“We tried to move the game to Saturday because this would help us,” Glasner said. “This would have helped us for Wednesday with one more day because Rayo Vallecano play Saturday evening as they moved the game forward.
“We thought the league has already been decided. I didn’t call anybody but it was Wednesday morning [when the club enquired]. We were thinking about it before but we didn’t call the Premier League and say: ‘Hey! Move the game if the title race isn’t decided on the last match day!’ but it didn’t work. That’s the short answer.
“I was just told it doesn’t work, there’s contractual issues, TV rights and everyone wants the big final day with the celebration as Arsenal get the trophy.”
Glasner is not allowing the decision to fester but there was certainly a veiled dig at those in positions of power and planning, given the season began with Palace getting turfed out of the Europa League, due to regulations around multi-club ownership. They have had to plough on with a small squad that has been stretched to its physical limits.
“We accepted the demotion into the Conference League and we’ll play Sunday,” said Glasner. “This year it just feels like from 60 games, we had less preparation than the opposition and then it’s just fair that we have the same in the final game.”