Premier League to Restart on June 17; Indian Footballers to Help Amphan-Affected West Bengal and More (Football Round-up)

The Premier league season is scheduled to restart on June 17 with the opening fixtures being Aston Villa vs Sheffield United and Manchester City vs Arsenal.

According to reports, the league restarts with these two matches on Wednesday (a mid-week fixture) before playing a full round of matches on June 20. There are 92 fixtures left in the season. The decision to restart the games was taken on May 28 with 20 clubs agreeing to resume via videoconference.

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The Premier League was suspended on March 19. The last match played was a 4-0 win by Leicester City over Aston Villa on March 9. Liverpool are 25 points clear at the top  while Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Norwich City are in the relegation places.

The clubs started with their non-contact training last week and unanimously voted to resume contact training on May 27.

There have been 2,752 coronavirus tests across the league and so far there have been 12 people who have tested positive. The Premier League players and staff will continue to be tested twice every week and the capacity has increased to 60 tests per club from the fourth round of testing. 

Footballers in Amphan Relief Work 

Prominent Indian footballers have taken up the mantle to help people affected by the cyclone Amphan in West Bengal.

The Players For Humanity, an alliance of former and current Bengal players with around 38 footballers including Subrata Paul, Mehtab Hossain, Arnab Mondal, Subhashish Roychowdhury, Sandip Nandy, Pronay Halder, Pritam Kotal, Shouvik Ghosh among others have decided to make contributions in the relief efforts.

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“The love from the fans is what a footballer’s life is all about. We feel it’s payback time to all who stay affected due to the havoc wreaked by Cyclone Amphan. Life is all about helping each other in times of crisis. I urge all to come forward and help,” said ‘Spiderman’ Paul.

Midfielder Halder said that some of the players have decided to travel to Amphan-affected areas and reach out to help the people in need. 

“I have heard reports that people have lost their homes. Many have their farms ravaged, and their entire source for income for the year has gone to waste. Some of us will also go to the affected areas and try to help the people as much as we can,” he said.

Coronavirus Crisis at Lokomotiv Moscow

Russian Premier League club Lokomotiv Moscow revealed that four of its players have tested positive for coronavirus. 

The top flight club stated that Dmitry Barinov, Anton Kochenkov, Timur Suleimanov and Roman Tugarev have not experienced any symptoms related to covid-19, the acute respiratory illness which develops for some after getting infected, and are at home in self isolation. 

The diagnosis of the players comes after a Moscow forward, Jefferson Farfan, tested positive for the virus this month.

The club travelled to a training base outside Moscow on May 28 to prepare for the restart of the Russian Premier League that is set to be played on June 21. 

Russia, as of Thursday, recorded 379,051 coronavirus cases and 4,142 deaths.

Taylor New Man City Women’s Coach

Manchester City Women appointed former Wales international Gareth Taylor as the new coach.

Taylor, 47, signed a three-year deal and replaces Nick Cushing, who left to join the coaching staff of New York City in February.

Taylor was incharge of Manchester City's under-18 team for three years, and has won two Premier League U18 Cups.

City confirmed Taylor will start as the new coach with immediate effect and will be assisted by Alan Mahon, who was taking care of things temporarily.

"I'm extremely excited about the challenge ahead with a very talented group of players and staff who have enjoyed a lot of success in recent years," Taylor said after Thursday's announcement.

"I'm really honoured to have been appointed to this role and I can’t wait to get started with our preparations for another thrilling and competitive WSL season in 2020-21."

EFL Confirms 3 Cases

Three people, including two players from Fulham, tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the latest tests that were conducted by the English Football League (EFL).

"The EFL can confirm that 1,030 players and club staff have been tested over the course of Monday 25, Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 May, with three individuals testing positive from two clubs," the EFL said in a statement.

Championship (second-tier) side Fulham said in a statement that two of their players returned positive tests in the second round of tests that were conducted and are now under self-isolation.

“Those players or club staff who have tested positive will now self-isolate... and only those who have tested negative will be permitted to enter training ground facilities.”

"Both players, who shall remain unnamed due to medical confidentiality, are now self-isolating in line with league and government guidance," the London club added.

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