It’s been more than three months since the Premier League has been put to a stop due to covid-19 outbreak, and after many debates of whether the season should be voided it restarts today! The restart of the Premier League will start off with the teams with a game in hand playing one another with Aston Villa hosting Sheffield United, and Manchester City hosting Arsenal.
Relegation threatened Aston Villa will be fighting for their lives for the remainder of the season to avoid the drop. Currently ranking in 19th place, a win against Sheffield United would take them to 16th place and provide a better position for them to survive. Sheffield United are having an unforgettable season, living in a dream currently being in 7th place. A win from their game in hand and Sheffield United jump to 5th place, where if Manchester City’s transfer ban isn’t overturned would allow them to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Sheffield United have completely surprised everyone this season, with many including me predicting they would finish dead last due to their lack of transfers and squad depth. Chris Wilder and his men plan to continue their momentum and with the game playing behind closed doors, Aston Villa will miss their boost from their fans.
Score Prediction: Aston Villa 1:2 Sheffield United
Manchester City is the only team in the world who could consider this a bad season due to their incredibly high standards in the past few years. Second place with a 25 point gap from first place Liverpool, the Citizens have had a unfortunate season along with the high chance of being banned from European Competitions for the next two seasons. They’ve been struggling due to injuries to key players such as Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte, but with their return Pep Guardiola is set to end the season and go gung-ho to win the Champions League once it returns. Manchester City will be hosting Arsenal with their newly appointed manager Mikel Arteta being Guardiola’s former assistant. Being snatched by the gunners after a dreadful campaign under former manager Unai Emery, Arteta has had a positive start to his manager career with Arsenal being the only undefeated team in the Premier League in 2020. 3 wins and 3 clean sheets in their last four league games, Arsenal are finally for once looking defensively strong. Manchester City will be the ultimate test for the gunners currently in 9th place, who are under the threat of missing out of qualifying for any European competition. If Arsenal have any chance of chasing for the fifth place potential Champions League spot, they will need to manage at least a draw against the citizens. A win would bring them one point behind 5th place Manchester United and provide a massive boost for the remaining of the season.
Score Prediction: Manchester City 2:3 Arsenal
Alex's Soccer Blog 