The news of the Premier League’s return on 17 June has been greeted with jubilation by football fans across the world. Now, the players and managerial staff must galvanise themselves for what promises to be an intense fixture list. With Liverpool set to stroll to the title, much of the excitement will focus on the battle against relegation.
As the teams in the bottom three when the season was suspended, Norwich City, Aston Villa and Bournemouth may all regard this as a second chance they feared they may not get when the coronavirus pandemic began. As such, the respective managers should have no problem motivating the players. Perhaps more interesting will be how the teams who would have narrowly escaped relegation if the season had ended prematurely, such as Watford and West Ham, react to the resumption of fixtures.
Many supporters will be hoping that the break will serve as a catalyst to rejuvenate the minds and bodies of tired players. However, without wishing to throw cold water on such optimism, the clubs at the bottom are there for a reason; none of the bottom seven collected more than four points from their last five league matches combined. For the long-suffering fans of these clubs, they would do well to temper expectations by looking at the Bundesliga title race. The German league began again on 16 May, focussing attention on the battle for supremacy between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. However, it now looks unlikely to go down to the wire; Bayern have continued where they left off, leaving Dortmund trailing in their wake.
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