Premier League returns - updates ahead of restart
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ByEurosport
Updated 17/06/2020 at 17:02 GMT
Follow live updates as the Premier League resumes after a 100-day hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Arsenal travelling to Manchester City
Etihad Stadium, general shot
Image credit: Getty Images
18:00 - Goodnight
We are going to sign off from here, but you can of course follow Aston Villa vs Sheffield United over this way.
Manchester City vs Arsenal follows at 8.15pm and we will also have live updates.
Enjoy!
17:25 - Pedro 'won't play for Chelsea again'
Pedro is reportedly unwilling to finish the season with Chelsea as he has agreed to sign with Roma.
The 32-year-old is out of contract at the end of the month and The Athletic say Chelsea had been hoping he would sign a short-term extension until the close of the season.
However, he apparently does not want to put his move at risk so won't play in the Premier League again.
17:05 - Team news is in
It's back, actually, fully, 100 per cent back. We have team news for the first game of the Premier League restart.
17:00 - Futsal calendar reorganised
UEFA has also confirmed the dates for upcoming international futsal tournaments, which have also been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup
- The play-offs have been rescheduled between 2 and 11 November 2020
UEFA Futsal EURO 2022
- The qualifying round play-offs will take place between 2 and 11 November
- The group stage and play-offs will be played between 6 December 2020 and 17 November 2021
UEFA Women’s Futsal EURO
- The preliminary round will be played between 4 and 9 May 2021
- The main round will be played between 19 and 24 October 2021
- The finals will be played between 24 to 27 March 2022.
UEFA U-19 Futsal EURO
- The final tournament will take place between 1 and 7 November 2021.
16:30 - Hojbjerg stripped of Southampton captaincy
After publicly confirming his desire to play "at a higher level" Southampton midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has been stripped of the club captaincy, with James Ward-Prowse set to take the armband.
16:00 - On a more serious note
Marcus Rashford forced the government into a U-turn this week. However, his battle was not just against poverty but structural racism and classism too, writes Jude Wanga.
15:30 - Your plans for the summer of 2021...
Were it not for COVID-19, we would be treated to a continent-wide feast of football with Euro 2020. But UEFA has now confirmed the revised dates for the competition, which will now begin on June 11 with Italy v Turkey in Rome.
15:00 - Plans for Champions League confirmed
Just as we're getting excited for the return of domestic football in Spain, England, Italy and Germany, we'll get to see Europe's biggest club competition soon enough. The quarter-finals onwards will be played as single-legged ties in Portugal in mid-August, while incomplete last-16 ties will take place shortly before. Whether these happen in neutral stadia or not remains to be seen.
14:30 - Newcastle receive fresh takeover bid from American TV tycoon
Shortly before lockdown was introduced in the UK, Newcastle were subject to a highly controversial takeover bid from a Saudi-backed consortium headed by Amanda Staveley with clear links to the kingdom's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. This bid is still awaiting the outcome of the Premier League's owners and directors test.
It now appears that they could be trumped in their bid to take over the club from Mike Ashley, with Henry Mauriss, the CEO of American cable television provider Clear TV.
Mauriss' bid is believed to be worth £350 million, more than the £300m offered by Staveley and the Saudi consortium.
14:00 - Carlo Ancelotti to raid old club PSG - Euro Papers
Euro Papers today centres on Everton, as Carlo Ancelotti wants to bring Thiago Silva and Layvin Kurzawa to Goodison Park from his former club Paris Saint-Germain!
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Carlo Ancelotti wants Thiago Silva at Everton plus one more PSG player - Euro Papers
13:20 - AI fan noise a 'rebuke' to supports
We have all become accustomed to an eerie empty stadium, with players' and coach's instructions and every kick of the ball heard but some television companies have been experimenting with adding in the usual fan noise. It hasn't been met with universal approval.
"We have significant concerns regarding attempts by broadcasters to replace or imitate the unique atmosphere produced by fans," said the statement by the umbrella group Football Supporters Europe, which was also signed by 26 fan groups from one dozen European countries.
"Augmented reality technology, pre-recorded chants, and other forms of artificial support represent a rebuke to match-going fans. The absence of fans cannot be compensated for by a computer simulation aimed at the amusement of television audiences."
13:00 - Eight positive tests in the Championship
The EFL has confirmed that a further eight positive tests have been returned from 2,213 tests across the Championship's 24 clubs. The individuals in question come from six different clubs, including Brentford, who kick off the division's restart against local rivals Fulham on Saturday.
12:40 - Bellerin spearheads green initiative
Marcus Rashford's success in forcing a government U-turn has made this a notable week for footballing activism, and Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin has announced that he will plant 3,000 trees for every victory the Gunners record between now and the end of the season.
Cuing the jokes about Asenal's chances of winning matches this term...
12:10 - Remembering the birth of everyone's favourite penalty
While we look forward to new football, let's take a trip down memory lane.
11:45 - Arteta set for reunion with former mentor
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta famously turned down a coaching role with Arsenal to become Manchester City's assistant manager and learn his trade from Pep Guardiola before returning to the Emirates, where he had been club captain, in December. His first trip back to City, against whom Arsenal have a miserable recent record provides him with a reunion with his old mentor, and the two are planning to share a socially distanced glass of wine.
"So excited to see him...he knows absolutely everything of us, he was an incredibly important part of our success in the last years, he helped us to be who we are," said Guardiola, who lost his mother during the pandemic and donated €1 million to his native Spain to help in the fight against COVID.
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Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta (Manchester City)
Image credit: Eurosport
11:15 - What to expect from the Premier League
Jose Mourinho will obviously find a way to use his extended allotment of five substitutions in the first half in a fit of blind rage, but what else is going to happen in the rest of the Premier League season? We've got you covered...
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The Premier League is back: 9 things you can expect...
11:00 - Before we were so rudely interrupted...
During the dark days of April, when Britain had ground to a halt and it seemed as though turning a corner in the coronavirus pandemic may never happen, football was a distant dream. But after a 100-day absence, the Premier League is back tonight. New cases and death figures are falling and non-essential shops in England are back open again. Our nation's pubs, restaurants and cafes will soon follow. And a much-needed dose of normality will return with our national sport. And how - Arsenal's trip to Manchester City, coming after Aston Villa take on Sheffield United provides the perfect entrée to a full weekend of top-flight action.
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