Arsenal leads Manchester City by two points and can clinch the title by winning their last two games. Those matches are against Burnley, already relegated, and Crystal Palace, preparing for the Europa Conference League final shortly after. Manchester City’s remaining fixtures look more difficult, with an away match at Bournemouth and a home match against Aston Villa. Bournemouth is still competing for Champions League qualification, while Villa will be returning from the Europa League final. The piece notes that psychological theories about end-of-season effort are often speculative, and emphasizes that clubs prioritize their own objectives. Crystal Palace and Aston Villa managers have indicated they will focus on what is right for their clubs, including resting players when appropriate.
"Arsenal lead Manchester City by two points which means two wins in their final two games of the season would seal the title and those two games are tonight against Burnley, who have been relegated, and, on Sunday against Crystal Palace, who will be preparing for the Europa Conference League final three days later. It's hard, frankly, to imagine a better pair of fixtures for Mikel Arteta's side to play at this stage of the season."
"On Tuesday they play away at Bournemouth, who are still fighting for Champions League qualification, whether by claiming fifth above Liverpool, or by taking sixth and hoping Villa win the Europa League but finish fifth. (It makes little sense but, under Uefa regulations, if Villa finish fourth and win the Europa League, there would be no sixth Champions League slot for Premier League clubs.) Man City finish at home against Aston Villa, who will just have returned from Istanbul and a Europa League final."
"All sorts of specious psychological theories are applied to these end-of-season games. Do teams with little or nothing left to play for put in the same effort? Or do they perhaps play with a greater freedom? Palace manager Oliver Glasner, whose side lost 3-0 to City last week, was explicit in saying his first duty is to do what is right for his club; putting on a good title race is not his responsibility."
"That is the right, the privilege even, of clubs who have achieved their principal goals; in that Glasner is surely right. It's a quirk of the calendar and inevitable in any league system which is why random fixture generation within certain parameters, mainly to do with safety and the demands on police"
Read at www.theguardian.com
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