EXTRA TIME

Premier League Restarts Tonight

June 17, 2020 at 4:50 am Leave a comment

It is almost 100 days since calling off all games which should have been played on the weekend that we would have been to London Stadium watching West Ham v Wolves if Corona had not hit the world. And now, the Premier League is back tonight with two initial games.

Aston Villa is going to face Sheffield United and Manchester City take on Arsenal. At last the Premier League joins Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain and other countries that have already resumed their football leagues. But as with life, there is uncertainty all around. Even uncertainty over what kind of football it will be after a break that lasted longer than the gap between last season and the start of this one.

It will be some kind of a “mini tournament” with a frenzy of 92 games in just 39 days until he end of July and with the FA Cup shoehorned in. There will be no margin for error, Jason Burt writes in The Telegraph. It will be a test of organisation and coaching and we will quickly see which clubs and managers have had a “good” lockdown with their preparations.

The only certainty is that Liverpool, with their 25-point advantage, will win a maiden Premier League title, and their first league crown since 1990. The fight for European places should be fascinating, and the relegation battle including six or maybe even eight clubs will surely go down to the wire.

I’m pleased that football returns tonight, and hope that West Ham will have been well prepared by David Moyes. We will know after tonight‘s Aston Villa game if the Hammers will start into the upcoming nine rounds in 16th or 17th place. With a home win over Sheffield Utd, Villa could leapfrog two of their opponents and get out of the relegation zone from which WHU is only separated by goal difference.

Anyway David Moyes’s men will have to hit the ground running when they commence the restarted campaign with tough matches against higher rated teams as Wolves, Spurs and Chelsea.

Come on you Irons!

All  about the return of the game: ▶️The Premier League returns – all you need to know

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