Premier League agree to restart the season in THREE WEEKS


Premier League agree to restart the season in THREE WEEKS with Manchester City v Arsenal and Aston Villa v Sheffield United lined up as the first games on Wednesday, June 17

  • The Premier League has taken a giant step forward towards its resumption
  • Plans are in place to restart the Premier League season in just three weeks
  • The top-flight has been suspended since early March due to coronavirus crisis
  • Man City vs Arsenal and Aston Villa vs Sheffield United is set to kick us off 
  • Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

Premier League clubs have agreed to restart the season in just three weeks’ time in what is a huge breakthrough for their Project Restart plans. 

The Premier League have desperately been trying to finalise plans to get the season back underway again following its suspension at the beginning of March amid the coronavirus crisis.

June 20 has been lined up as the first round of fixtures following the Premier League’s resumption although Manchester City vs Arsenal and Aston Villa vs Sheffield United are set to go ahead on Wednesday June 17. 

Manchester City vs Arsenal has been lined up for June 17 when the Premier League resumes

Aston Villa vs Sheffield United is also likely to be played on Wednesday, June 17

Aston Villa vs Sheffield United is also likely to be played on Wednesday, June 17 

Newcastle were pictured back in contact training on Thursday after getting the green light

Newcastle were pictured back in contact training on Thursday after getting the green light

POTENTIAL OPENING SET OF LEAGUE GAMES

JUNE 17

Manchester City vs Arsenal

Aston Villa vs Sheffield United

JUNE 19/20/21/22  

Aston Villa vs Chelsea

Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace

Brighton vs Arsenal

Everton vs Liverpool

Manchester City vs Burnley

Newcastle United vs Sheffield United

Norwich City vs Southampton

Tottenham vs Manchester United

Watford vs Leicester City

West Ham United vs Wolves 

These two matches are the ‘games in hand’ for these four clubs, which will take all 20 Premier League teams up to 29 fixtures for the season.  

Another game may be played on Friday June 19, with Sportsmail previously reporting that Tottenham vs Manchester United could be set for that slot, but the first full round of fixtures will start on Saturday June 20, with matches staggered across the weekend. 

The restart date leaves Premier League managers with just three weeks to get their squads ready for the eagerly-awaited kick-off. 

After the English top-flight was suspended in early March, it leaves clubs with plenty of work to do to get their squads as match-fit as possible following over three months away from the game. 

Clubs only returned to small group training again last week, in line with the Premier League’s return-to-training protocols and UK Government guidelines on social distancing. 

Premier League stars were only allowed to work in groups of five as clubs look to keep training as safe as possible ahead of the top-flight’s resumption. 

But on Thursday morning, training looked a more familiar site as contact was allowed again between players after Phase Two of Project Restart was given the green light.

Newcastle were the first team to publish pictures of their first-team stars in contact training on Thursday.

Mohamed Salah and his Liverpool team-mates are on the verge of wrapping up the league title

Mohamed Salah and his Liverpool team-mates are on the verge of wrapping up the league title

Clubs began training again last week, but were only allowed to work in groups of five

Clubs began training again last week, but were only allowed to work in groups of five

During a conference call on Tuesday, Premier League players gave the green light to return to contact training during a captains and PFA delegates chat — a step forward that was ratified on Wednesday.

But while some clubs plan to head straight into contact training from Thursday — with only four positive tests out of 1,008 in round three of testing — others will wait for two more rounds of clear results before moving into phase two of training.

Potential dates for the Premier League’s resumption had been going back and forth in recent times.

The Premier League were hoping to get the campaign up and running again on June 12 but that option was soon out the window due to the time needed to get players back up to match sharpness.   

Premier League matches will be played behind closed doors when it finally resumes

Premier League matches will be played behind closed doors when it finally resumes