It's just a small victory for City on penalties

PREMIER LEAGUE clubs will only have to overcome a "relatively minor issue" in their legal battle with Manchester City.

- John Cross

The 20 top-flight teams will hold a crunch summit next week amid the escalating civil war with City, after the champions won a legal ruling on Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.

But top lawyer Simon Leaf, Mishcon de Reya's head of sports law, believes City have only "won on penalties after extra-time".

The Premier League are confident they can quickly update their rules, which are designed to ensure commercial deals with entities linked to a club's owners are set at a "fair market value", before the whole financial system gets a major overhaul next summer.

That has not stopped City writing to the other 19 top-flight clubs, accusing the league of presenting "misleading" summary of the outcome of their legal dispute and declaring the current APT system void.