THE PREMIER LEAGUE IS BACK: With plenty still to play for, let the drama commence…..
Even though it feels like a lifetime to English football fans and probably fans of the English Premier League around the world, it has been 99 days since the last Premier League game was played and the world plummeted into a global pandemic.
In the midst of this, while the country struggled to comprehend what was actually happening, and the government showed their incompetence, sport and football took a back seat and was put on hold as we all literally put things and life in perspective.
However, as the time passed and we all craved sport and football, speculation began to rise on if the season would return. There had been a vast majority of “null and void” merchants preaching that the abandonment of the Premier League was the best thing. Questions, debates and heated arguments ensued on social media on a daily basis, as starving football fans kept themselves occupied in the absence of live football.
But now, this is all a distant memory and in the past. Ever since the announcement of football returning to the our tv screens (albeit behind closed doors) its felt like an early Christmas, with a calendar of live football on an almost daily basis for the next three weeks, as the Premier League moves to fulfil its fixture list to finish what had already been a compelling season.
To jog your memory, if it needed it, the last game played was Leicester’s 4-0 drubbing of Aston Villa on Monday, March 9th. This was a game week where on Sunday 8th, in the Manchester derby, United beat City 2-0 at Old Trafford and Chelsea trounced Everton 4-0 at home. Chelsea had just recently seen the emergence of young prodigy Billy Gilmour and Man Utd’s new signing Bruno Fernandes has given everyone at United a lift for the future with his form since he signed.
On Saturday the 7th, Liverpool continued their relentless charge to the title by maintaining a 25 point lead at the top with a 2-1 win over Bournemouth, who sit 18th in the relegation zone, on the same points as Watford in 17th, who also lost 1-0 at Palace and West Ham who sit 16th, who also lost 1-0 at Arsenal. Surprise team of the season Sheff Utd continued their charge for Europe in seventh with a 1-0 win at home to rock bottom Norwich.
Arsenal’s win helped close the gap with a game in hand on Sheff Utd in 7th and Spurs in 8th, who drew 1-1 away at Burnley, and another surprise package of the season, Wolves in 6th, who disappointingly drew 0-0 at home to Brighton. However, Arsenal’s game in hand is away to Man City. The other game of that game week saw Newcastle beat Southampton away 1-0 to allow them to leap frog the saints in the table.
As if the race for Champions League places were not already exciting with the emergence of Sheff Utd & Wolves occupying Europa League places and pushing for a top four finish, with north London rivals Arsenal and Spurs struggling. The season already had a huge bombshell when it was announced in February that due to “serious breaches” of financial monitoring rules and failing to cooperate with investigators, UEFA banned Man City from European football for two years, accusing them of deceiving UEFA in order to comply with financial fair play regulations.
So now this has opened up an extra place for teams, knowing that Man City will obviously finish in the top four, so whoever finishes fifth will qualify for the Champions League. Man Utd, sitting in fifth, will be extremely happy about this, however, Wolves and Sheff Utd would have been boosted at this information, as it could make an already great season turn into an amazing one. That said, this must have also boosted Spurs and Arsenal, giving them a chance to end an indifferent season on an unbelievable high.
It’s equally nail biting at the bottom with nine games to go, where it does look as if Norwich in 20th, will have to stage a miraculous resurrection to starve off relegation, as they sit nine points from safety. Aston Villa in 19th, are in deep trouble but will still harbour hopes, as they are three points from safety and have some real interesting home games to come, including the first game of the season return at home to Champions League chasing Sheff Utd. They also have home games coming up against Chelsea, Wolves, Man Utd and Arsenal which seems very ominous.
The last relegation place is occupied by Bournemouth, who are on the same points as Watford in 17th and West Ham in 16th, with Brighton a further two points ahead of them.
I believe barring a real miracle, the rest are safe and the relegated teams will be three from the bottom six teams mentioned. There are some real exciting six pointers ahead of us, which will all go a long way to decide who will be relegated to the Championship.
However, with many of the teams in and around the bottom already played each other, many will be seeking to steal points off the clubs in the top half, this means the few games with the bottom half teams will take on more of a significance and sure to be real intense and exciting. But after three months without any football, any and every game played until the end of the season will be significant.
I am just glad the Premier League didn’t go the same way as league one & two in England, Scottish, French and Dutch leagues to end the seasons and rather, took a leaf out of the German, Bundesliga in how it could work. At the end of the day, safety is the main and most important thing, but sport, and football in particular is also life and I am sure we are just all happy to have life back.
