2020 has been a very difficult period for football. On March 13 the Premier Leauge was suspended amid the fears of the coronavirus and other top leagues followed as well.
On May 19 the Premier League clubs returned to training at their bases in small groups, and on May 28 the Premier League announced that the season would resume on June 17.
The Premier League is indeed a competition, which is the most popular around the world. In this article, we will talk about the things you should know about the resumption of the season.
The title
Liverpool will definitely be the champions. If there were still doubts in March and April, now the questions have been answered – the season will be played out, which means that the Reds will become the champions of England for the first time in 30 years.
Theoretically, Liverpool can win the championship in Sunday’s derby with Everton, but for this Manchester City must first lose to Arsenal and the leader himself must get three points in the match with the opponent.
Champions League
There is a double intrigue. First, it’s still unclear whether Manchester City will play in the Champions League next season.
In July, the court should announce a decision on the appeal, so their hope has not yet died out. If City is still not allowed to enter the Champions League, then from the fifth place it will be possible to get into the Champions League.
There are a lot of applicants. Now in fifth place is Manchester United with 45 points, so even Crystal Palace and Burnley have a chance to join the European elite.
The latter especially has been in good shape thanks to its New Zealand forward Chris Wood, who has become the unanimous leader of the team.
Standing at 6.3ft Wood has already managed to score 11 goals and creates a lot of threats for the opposite teams.
And the success brought to the team was not left unnoticed by the online casinos in New Zealand which are growing rapidly, and thanks to the prominent players gaining a foothold in the country.
In essence, casino promotions for Kiwis started to feature Wood as the basis for bonuses and more people in New Zealand root for Burnley only for a reason, Chris is in the team.
Relegation
The famous British coach Harry Redknapp predicted a fierce struggle for survival this season.
Indeed, even Norwich who are at the bottom of the table still has the opportunity to survive – the Canaries are only six points behind the 17th place.
The Cup
Manchester City managed to win the League Cup before the pandemic, but the FA Cup has not yet been played.
The quarter-finals will be held on June 27 and 28, and the final will take place on August 1.
No spectators allowed
There will be no spectators at the matches, so the league did everything so that the viewers could enjoy as many games as possible.
An unprecedented solution: football fans will be able to see the maximum number of games live, as they will start at different times. There are 11-time slots for starting 10 matches.
Due to the wide variation in the start of the games, the Premier League decided to attract new television platforms.
For example, for the first time since 1992, the English Championship matches will be shown live on the BBC, with all four free. Sky will show 25 matches for free, Amazon – four matches.
We add that at the matches there will be no inter-noise and pixel viewers, as in Spain. Although Sky Sports will provide its subscribers with an option: they will be able to choose between the real atmosphere and the artificial noise of the stands.
There will be no fans in the stands; however, Burnley and Tottenham announced that they would organize a “fan wall” at the stadium – the fans will be shown on the video by the field.
A similar idea was recently implemented in Denmark, where Aarhus fans were shown live through Zoom.
Security measures
The Premier League is constantly testing players, coaches, and club staff. The latter was held on June 11 and 12, and it revealed two new cases of coronavirus disease, one of them is the Norwich football player.
The safety measures at the matches are strict. On its website, the Premier League described everything in detail – from maintaining the distance on the bus to a separate entrance into the stadium bowl.
Much attention is paid to security measures in the locker rooms. Previously, Mascot children could freely enter them, whom football players take to the field, club leaders, and even star fans.
Now access is allowed only to football players, coaches, and physiotherapists. Of course, in the locker rooms, the players will sit apart from each other.
The tunnel at the entrance to the field is a special place. Previously, it was always crowded – there could be officials, photographers, cameramen, children, and football players themselves.
Now only players and referees will be allowed in there, who will check the ammunition of the players.
Teams will have to enter the field separately so that we won’t see greetings from ex-teammates in the tunnel this season.
Many familiar things will go away. For example, there will be mascots. There will be no handshakes before the matches, but this is understandable – they were not even at the last games before the quarantine.
The referees will monitor not only the game but also the behavior of the players. Of course, they will not issue warnings for non-observance of the social distance, but they will indicate to the players that they should not celebrate goals in an embrace, spit on the field and shake hands. The fourth referee will be required to wear a mask.
After the match, the coronavirus should also be remembered. There will be no mixed zones and press conferences, but interviews between copyright holders and players and coaches will remain – a two-meter microphone will help their journalists.
And the players in the locker rooms will continue to keep their distance and, for example, will not be able to use neighboring showers at the same time if there is no partition between them.
Massage sessions and post-match analysis of the game will be limited to 15 minutes.
Many coaches like to arrange an hourly spacing after the defeat for the players, but in the current situation, this is impossible.
And the rest – everything will be as usual.
