Premier League set for June 17 restart and August 1 end; Man City vs Arsenal to resume 2019-20 campaign
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The Premier League is all set to return on June 17 following talks between all 20 clubs on Thursday. The Project Restart was handed a massive boost after ‘majority’ of Premier League clubs expressed interest to get the ball rolling in the month of June after contact training was approved on Wednesday.
The Premier League is all set to return on June 17 following talks between all 20 clubs on Thursday. The Project Restart was handed a massive boost after ‘majority’ of Premier League clubs expressed interest to get the ball rolling in the month of June after contact training was approved on Wednesday.
Defending champions Manchester City will host Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal whereas Aston Villa will take on Sheffield United in what will be the first round of matches post the resumption of the halted 2019-20 season, as per reports. The two matches are the ‘games in hand’ for the four clubs and the round of games will take all 20 Premier League to 29 fixtures in the season.
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The initial plan was for Premier League to resume services on Friday – June 12 – but it was delayed by one week with players needing more time to get back to match fitness and avoid the risk of injuries.
The restart date of June 17 leaves Premier League managers with just over three weeks to complete their preparation.
The Premier League was suspended in the early match and all the clubs will have to sweat it out extra in order to get match-fit after spending around three months away from the football pitch.
Clubs returned to training last week and followed training protocols and UK government guidelines on social distancing. But from Thursday, players of some of the clubs were involved in contact training after Phase 2 of Project Restart got a green light on Wednesday.