Preview of Premier League Return

The Premier League will make its return on June 17th with Aston Villa hosting Sheffield United and Arsenal visiting the defending champions Manchester City at the Etihad. Following the long pause and tough negotiation from the clubs, the football authorities and the British government, England's top-flight is set to return for the final nine games of the season. Here's where we left off.

Liverpool: Record Breakers?

The race for the Premier League title looks to be a foregone conclusion with Liverpool sitting at the top with a massive 25-point gap between them and 2nd placed Manchester City. Liverpool fans will be glad that they will see the team win on the field rather than some sort of technicality. They are six points away from winning the title for the first time in thirty years and their first of the Premier League era.  A remarkable achievement for manager Jürgen Klopp.

They have dropped just five points from the 29 games they have played and have been a massive juggernaut that only Watford and Manchester United have taken points from the Reds this season. Some records that Liverpool could break are the highest points tally, biggest points difference and most wins in a league season, which were set by Manchester City in 2018. Their first game back is against city rivals Everton at Goodison Park, where they could win the title if Manchester City loses their game against Arsenal. They have games against Crystal Palace at Anfield and Manchester City at the Etihad, where they could receive a guard of honour if they have the title wrapped up.

It would be interesting what actions Jürgen Klopp would do once the title is won. Would have to go all guns blazing or will have heavily rotated his side which could mean opportunities for the likes of Divock Origi, Takumi Minamino, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott. For Liverpool fans, getting the title won is the main goal and they can finally celebrate it. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to celebrate with the players which will be a surreal moment for the players and the supporters.

Race for The UCL/Europe

The race for the Champions League is quite intriguing. Manchester City look set to finish second but is banned from the competition for two years despite sending an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If City's ban is upheld, the fifth place will be a Champions League position. Leicester City and Chelsea complete the top four with Manchester United in fifth. The likes of Sheffield United and Wolves are within contention for the Champions League spots with Arsenal and Tottenham not that far behind.

Leicester City is more likely to play in the Champions League next season but the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Sheffield United and Wolves, getting points from these nine games will be important in playing the Champions League. Manchester United have the least difficult run-in with only Tottenham and Leicester in their most difficult games. Chelsea, however, has fixtures against Liverpool, Manchester City, Wolves and Sheffield United. Sheffield United and Wolves will have to make the most of their small squad which could put them at a disadvantage while Arsenal and Tottenham are outsiders following their inconsistent form this season.

Whoever gets fourth and even fifth will play in the Champions League next season while those that finish sixth and seventh will in the Europa League, with eighth a probability which depends on who wins the FA Cup. So, the final nine games are critical.

Battle for Survival

Six teams are involved at the bottom end of the table. Norwich City is bottom with 21 points, six points away from safety. With the most defeats and the least amount of goals scored, it will be a great escape for the Canaries to pull it off but it seems more likely that Norwich will be returning back to Championship. Aston Villa and Bournemouth are in the relegation zone with Villa conceding the most goals this season while Bournemouth has struggled this season.

Watford, West Ham United and Brighton are outside of the relegation zone but are not safe and still in the dogfight. Villa's hopes of staying up will come from talisman Jack Grealish and they will have midfielder Josh McGinn back from a lengthy injury. West Ham has disappointed this season and received criticism when chairman Karen Brady wrote a piece declaring the season null and void as relegation will be devastating for the Hammers. Watford will hope to continue the form they had when Nigel Pearson was appointed which culminated with their shock 3-0 win over Liverpool but suffered a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace soon after. Brighton is yet to win this calendar year as Graham Potter's are still in the danger of going down.

It was no surprise that these six teams had reservations about the league's restart, voicing their opposition to neutral venues and having no relegation as well. So the financial consequences of any of these teams going down will have huge effects on these teams, potentially for years.

So, the Premier League is finally back and we can't wait.