Premier
League football is poised to return after a three-month shutdown, with
top-flight games in England provisionally set to resume on Wednesday, June
17.
Aston Villa vs Sheffield United and Manchester City vs Arsenal are scheduled
to be the first two games when the Premier League resumes next month, with a
full round of matches taking place for the first time since the restart on
June 19-21.
Premier League return - key points
Provisional restart date of June 17 agreed, subject to safety requirements
Aston Villa vs Sheff Utd, Man City vs Arsenal scheduled for June 17 Full
match round to start June 19 All 92 games broadcast live in UK - 64 live on
Sky Sports All games behind closed doors Venues still to be confirmed New
staggered KO times
The fixtures due to take place on June 17 were originally postponed due to
the EFL Cup Final and the rearranged Manchester City vs Arsenal game was due
to be broadcast live on Sky Sports before the pandemic struck. Every club
will have played 29 Premier League games after those midweek matches.
This season's remaining games are set to be played on any seven days in a
week, with fans set to enjoy up to four live matches on Saturdays and
Sundays.
A total of 64 live games will be on Sky Sports from the provisional restart
date of June 17, with 25 of those games being made available free to air
including the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool.
New staggered kick-off times will be used for the remaining 92 matches.
Games on a Friday will kick off at 8pm, while on Saturday the slots will be
12.30pm, 3pm, 5.30pm and 8pm. Sunday matches will kick off at either 12pm,
2pm, 4.30pm and 7pm, with Monday games starting at 8pm.
Midweek games on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays will kick off at either
6pm or 8pm.
The plan for football to resume behind closed doors awaits the green light
from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and government.
Sky Sports News understands that stage three (the return to play aspect) of
the DCMS' guidance on the return of elite sport is still being finalised.
COVID-19 impact on football
March 5 - Pre-match handshakes banned in the Premier League.
March 11 - Man City v Arsenal is first Premier League game suspended;
Liverpool v Atletico Madrid the last top level game played in England.
March 12 - Man Utd, Wolves play away Europa League ties behind closed doors,
Rangers host Bayer Leverkusen in front of fans.
March 13 - Football suspended following an emergency meeting between PL, FA,
EFL and WSL
April 15 - SPFL clubs approve plan to end the Scottish Championship, League
One and league Two seasons.
May 15 - League Two clubs vote to end the season with immediate effect.
May 17 - Premier League players and staff tested for COVID-19.
May 18 - Scottish Premiership curtailed, with points per game determining
league positions and Celtic named champions.
May 19 - Premier League clubs return to socially distanced group training.
May 25 - Women's Super League cancelled, with title and relegation to be
determined.
May 27 - Premier League clubs vote to resume contact training.
Football in England has been suspended since March 13 following an emergency
meeting between the Premier League, Football Association, the English
Football League and the Women's Super League.
Thursday's conference call was the second meeting of Premier League clubs in
the last two days after they unanimously agreed to resume contact training.
There have been 12 positive results across the first three rounds of
coronavirus testing at Premier League clubs. Four positive tests were
announced on Wednesday evening.
Full Premier League statement
A statement read: "Premier League Shareholders today agreed to a new
provisional restart date for the 2019/20 season of Wednesday 17 June,
provided that all safety requirements are in place.
"Aston Villa v Sheffield United and Manchester City v Arsenal - postponed
due to the Carabao Cup Final - will now take place on 17 June, followed by a
full match round beginning on Friday 19 June. Due to COVID-19, games will
take place behind closed doors.
"Premier League Shareholders also approved a proposal that would see all 92
remaining matches broadcast live in the UK by the League's existing
broadcast partners: Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC Sport and Amazon Prime."
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters added: "Today we have
provisionally agreed to resume the Premier League on Wednesday 17 June. But
this date cannot be confirmed until we have met all the safety requirements
needed, as the health and welfare of all participants and supporters is our
priority.
''Sadly, matches will have to take place without fans in stadiums, so we are
pleased to have come up with a positive solution for supporters to be able
to watch all the remaining 92 matches.
"The Premier League and our clubs are proud to have incredibly passionate
and loyal supporters. It is important to ensure as many people as possible
can watch the matches at home.
"We will continue to work step-by-step and in consultation with all our
stakeholders as we move towards resuming the 2019/20 season."
64 live PL games on Sky, 25 free-to-air
Sky Sports will show 64 live Premier League games and make 25
available free to air when the season resumes.
Sky, the UK's leading football broadcaster, will make 25 games available
'free to air' - including Everton vs Liverpool on the first full weekend
back - for everyone in the UK to enjoy.
With 92 Premier League matches of the current season remaining, Sky Sports
subscribers will be able to watch 39 exclusive live games with a further 25
available more widely via Sky's free-to-air 'Pick' Channel and simulcast on
Sky Sports, allowing the whole nation to be part of the return of live
sport.
'Testing has provided a degree of
confidence'
Sky Sports News' chief reporter Bryan Swanson:
'As soon as a return to contact training had been approved unanimously by
clubs, the next step was for a resumption of matches.
'There has been a shift in perception in the couple of weeks that has been
helped by the testing. The Premier League clubs have taken part in three
rounds of testing and there have been 12 positives cases, but 99.5 per cent
of those testing have returned negative results.
'Every positive result will have to have been taken seriously, but the
relatively low figures will have given a degree of confidence for those
players and managers that they are returning to as safe an environment as
possible.
'A lot can happen in the next three weeks but what clubs now have is that
definitive line in the sand, they know what they are aiming for in terms of
Project Restart. In the case of four of those clubs, they are playing on
June 17, with the rest taking part over the weekend of June 19, 20 and 21.
'The expectation from the Premier League is that the remaining 92 fixtures
will be completed in a six-week timeframe. A lot of other items remain under
discussion, notably where all the fixtures will be played.
'The Premier League are also discussing a Plan B - what happens if there is
a second peak of the virus and those fixtures cannot be fulfilled at some
point throughout June and July? But clubs have that June 17 target to focus
on and that is what they will chase.'
Neutral venues still on the table?
Sky Sports News' chief reporter Bryan Swanson:
'We still await confirmation on stadia and venues. This goes back to the
authorities and police to see whether the clubs will get their way to play
matches at home.
'There is perhaps a suspicion that some of the big remaining games, the more
high-profile games, may be at neutral venues.
'It has always been the Premier League's intention to finish the remaining
92 games, and they have the broad agreement to do that, albeit in the
restrictions of a behind-closed-doors environment.
'Where the question goes now is the stadiums that can and can't be used.
Neutral venues were the key plan going forward, but clubs have been
reassuring the authorities that fans will not be gathering outside their
stadiums as had been feared.
'What will happen to specific clubs is a question that still needs to be
answered.'
Home advantage wiped out?
While venues are still to be confirmed, there appears to be a trend in the
Bundesliga when it comes to 'home games'. There have been only five home
wins in 27 Bundesliga games played behind closed doors - suggesting home
advantage is wiped out without fans.
That ratio represents a 25 per cent slump for success on home soil since the
league restarted and underlines how fans in the stands are the key component
to home advantage.
According to a study published by The Conversation, home teams win 46 per
cent of games on average - but that figure is slashed to just 36 per cent
for the 191 games played behind closed doors in Europe's top leagues and
competitions since WWII.
In England, the hosts have won 45 per cent of games in the Premier League
this season, 43 per cent in the Championship, 46 per cent in League One and
42 per cent in League Two.
How will having no fans inside the stadium impact Premier League clubs? Read
more here
Neville: PL players will be fit for June
restart
Gary Neville said this week that he thought Premier League players would
only need "two or three weeks" of training to get up to speed.
Speaking on The Football Show, he said: "I don't see players' fitness being
a concern - I don't see them needing four or five weeks. Even when they've
had six weeks off for pre-season, within 10 days of going back in they'd be
playing games again in pre-season.
"They wouldn't be 100 per cent fit but these are uncharted times. I wouldn't
expect the players to be absolutely perfect. I feel two to three weeks is
about right to get them back playing again.
"We're constantly told throughout the season that players are overworked,
play too many matches. What we can't have is a situation where the players
have had an eight-week break to then say they need six weeks of training to
get back to fitness. That doesn't feel right.
"If Harry Kane was borderline fit for the European Championships and was
going to be back two weeks before the tournament, he'd be saying he was fit
and ready to go. I don't see the difference with this situation."
The fixtures left to play
The full fixture schedule, including dates and kick-off times, is still to
be confirmed but there are plenty of big derbies and crunch clashes at top
and bottom still in store.
Liverpool, so close to the title, have Manchester City to play again, as
well as Merseyside rivals Everton, while a north London showdown between
Arsenal and Tottenham is on the agenda.
The race for European qualification is on, with Manchester United just three
points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and Wolves and Sheffield United in the
chasing pack.
And while Norwich are adrift at the bottom, only four points separate
15th-placed Brighton and 19th-placed Aston Villa.
It's all to play for.
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