Premier League releases schedule, will restart June 17
The English Premier League officially has a restart date.
The world’s most popular sports league announced Friday it will resume with a pair of games on June 17 provided that “all safety requirements are in place.” If that’s the case, Aston Villa will meet Sheffield United while Manchester City hosts Arsenal.
Like the 90 other matches remaining in the 2019-20 season, those matches will be played without fans in empty stadiums because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Prem has been shut down since March because of the health crisis.
The midweek soft launch will be followed by a full slate of games on the weekend of June 19-21. Liverpool, which was leading the Prem by a whopping 25 points over defending champs Man City when the campaign went on hiatus, will face Merseyside rival Everton in the final match of the (re)opening round of games. The Reds need just two wins from their final nine games to secure the club’s first English title since 1990.
The Premier League released its schedule only through the beginning of July. Other games will be announced later. There will be at least one game per day on 14 of the sixteen days between June 17-July 2.
Here’s the initial fixture list:
Wednesday, June 17
Aston Villa vs. Sheffield United
Man City vs. Arsenal
Friday, June 19
Norwich City vs. Southampton
Tottenham vs. Manchester United
Saturday, June 20
Watford vs. Leicester City
Brighton vs. Arsenal
West Ham vs. Wolverhampton
Bournemouth vs. Crystal Palace
Sunday, June 21
Newcastle vs. Sheffield United
Aston Villa vs. Chelsea
Everton vs. Liverpool
Monday, June 22
Man City vs. Burnley
Tuesday, June 23
Leicester City vs. Brighton
Tottenham vs. West Ham
Wednesday, June 24
Man United vs. Sheffield United
Newcastle vs. Aston Villa
Norwich City vs. Everton
Wolverhampton vs. Bournemouth
Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace
Thursday, June 25
Burnley vs. Watford
Southampton vs. Arsenal
Chelsea vs. Man City
Saturday, June 27
Aston Villa vs. Wolves
Sunday, June 28
Watford vs. Southampton
Monday, June 29
Crystal Palace vs. Burnley
Tuesday, June 30
Brighton vs. Man United
Wednesday, July 1
Arsenal vs. Norwich City
Bournemouth vs. Newcastle
Everton vs. Leicester City
West Ham vs. Chelsea
Thursday, July 2
Sheffield United vs. Tottenham
Man City vs. Liverpool