The Premier League has finally agreed that June 17 is the restart date for the 2019-2020 season which was halted on March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now that the much-awaited date for Premier League restart has been agreed upon, the ball is now in the court of the clubs to plan how they will survive on the league table.
Before the coronavirus halted football in the league, Liverpool football club has shown that it is either the Premier League title or nothing this season. The club currently leads the league table with a whopping 82 points with 9 games left to play.
Before December, Liverpool was not just looking at winning the league title, the club was looking like it was delicately poised to break Arsenal’s 2003 invincible record by winning the title unbeaten. But that was taken away in December when the team fell to lowly rated Watford 3 goals to 0.
Premier League Restart: Feats Liverpool can still achieve
Now that it is not possible to have the unbeaten record this season, Liverpool will focus on breaking Manchester City’s most accumulated points in a season record. Recall that Manchester City who is currently second-placed on the league table won the Premier League two seasons ago gathering a total of 100 points, a feat that has never been achieved in the league.
When the Premier League restart on June 17, Liverpool will be aiming to win at least 6 matches out of 9 in order to equal Manchester City’s record, and win one more match to surpass it. Going by their form before the season was halted the Jurgen Klopp’s men can achieve that with ease if they return with the form they started the season with.
Another feat Liverpool could be looking at breaking if the Premier League restart is the gap between the first-placed team and the second-placed team. Recall that when Manchester City won the 2017-2018 Premier League, the difference between the club and the second-placed team was 19, the highest in the history of the league.
As it stands, Liverpool has already broken the record with the 25 points difference between the club and Manchester City. All things being equal, Liverpool should be able to maintain the momentum throughout the remaining 9 games when the Premier League restart.
There are other numerous records the table-toppers would want to set and even break with their remaining 9 games, but first, the club would want to win at least two matches out of the 9 games to guarantee their title win this season.
The fate of other clubs
As for other clubs, the game is not over for any of the teams in the top four. Any team can drop down from the top four aside from Liverpool. Take, for instance, Manchester City has 57 points, third-placed Leicester City has 53 points, 4th placed Chelsea has 48 points, 5th placed Manchester United has 45 points, 6th and 7th placed Wolves and Sheffield United has 43 points respectively, while 8th placed Tottenham has 40 points. The difference between 5th placed United and second-placed City is 8 points. Just 6 loses out of 10, can bring City to United’s spot. And 9 games winning streak will be enough for United to replace City.
Also, if Manchester City should win 5 matches and lose the remaining 4 and their one outstanding match, they will finish the season with 72 points. And if 5th placed Manchester United should win their remaining 9 games, they will end up equaling City’s points and sit on the 3rd spot due to City’s better goals difference. That means that Leicester City has to win 7 games out of 9 to ensure that United doesn’t take that third spot from them even if they go on 9 games winning streak. And that also means that Chelsea has to win all their 9 games in order not to be bothered by the form of United.
As it is interesting at the top, so also the bottom. Besides Liverpool, all the teams still have the potential of dropping to the bottom four. Imagine that Manchester City loses 9 out of 10 matches and the teams in the bottom 10 win at least 8 out of 9 matches, Manchester City could finish 18th on the league table.
The reason Liverpool could not be declared the winner of the league when coronavirus pandemic didn’t allow the season to continue is now more obvious. Every club still has a chance to perform a miracle in the 92 fixtures that are left in the season. Though fans will be far away from the stadium, everyone will be glued to any means that can bring the matches home.
