FA Cup
KEY DATES IN ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP & FA CUP
Project Restart’s most emphatic breakthrough came on Thursday as it emerged that June 17 is the date the Premier League will begin again.
Manchester City will play Arsenal and Aston Villa take on Sheffield United to bring all 20 Premier League teams level on 29 games played. A full round of fixtures will resume from June 20.
So now, with a template in place, Sportsmail assesses how Project Restart could unfold from here.
MAY 28
Thursday has been the first day that clubs can introduce contact training back to their players.
The very first pictures of players getting stuck in came from Newcastle but it does not mean that clubs will resume in an immediate resumption of training methods before the coronavirus outbreak.
Groups will slowly be expanded and it will be a few days yet before clubs are playing 11 v 11 matches within their squads in training. Nevertheless, the first phases of contact training are an important landmark.
JUNE 6
By now, clubs should all be involved in contact training, with the overall standard intensifying. A fortnight before the resumption of the season means that managers and coaches can fine-tune the conditioning plans they have for players.
The Telegraph have even reported that teams are looking at conducting pre-season friendlies to sharpen players up as much as possible ahead of the restart.
JUNE 17
The first Premier League matches should be played. The most notable fixture is Manchester City against Arsenal, which pits Pep Guardiola against his former assistant Mikel Arteta.
JUNE 20
The first full set of fixtures will be completed the weekend starting June 20. If City lose the midweek match to Arsenal, Liverpool can win the league against Everton.
Again, the matches are expected to be broadcast across a free-to-air platform. Sky Sports will broadcast 64 of the remaining 92 games, with 25 to be made freely available – including the Merseyside derby.
JULY 26
The last day of the season – all being well, it will bring the completion to the campaign that the majority of Premier League clubs have wanted to see. Relegation and European places will be confirmed on the pitch, rather than a points-per-game system.
AUGUST 1
The new date for the FA Cup final at Wembley. The quarter and semi-finals will be played during the Premier League season.
AUGUST 26-29
The two dates here are slated for the final of the Europa League and Champions League, which is of interest to fans of Manchester United, Wolves, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Like the FA Cup, exactly how the remaining rounds are to be completed is yet to be announced by UEFA but with leagues across the continent tentatively following Germany’s lead and getting back to playing, there is growing hope.
SEPTEMBER 12
This is still to be confirmed but according to The Times, the Football Association have said that the 2020-21 campaign will need to begin soon after the 2019-20 season ends. It is reported that they have earmarked a two-week break after the European tournament finals.
This is because the delayed European Championship is taking place next summer, with a start date of June 11 and will run until July 11 – potentially with less host cities than what was initially planned.
Gareth Southgate, like all of the managers competing in the tournament, will require as much time as he can get with his players, including warm-up matches.
The first weekend of semi-automated offside decisions in English soccer descended into confusion on Saturday as Bournemouth had a goal ruled out after a record eight-minute VAR check.
Bournemouth, who eventually beat Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties in the FA Cup fifth round after a 1-1 draw, thought they had doubled their lead when defender Milos Kerkez scored in the 35th-minute goal.
However, new technology could not be used because the six-yard area was too crowded and VAR officials had to revert to manually drawing lines before disallowing the goal.
Fellow defender Dean Huijsen was adjudged to have been in an offside position as Kerkez’s effort brushed his shoulder before going in to the net.
The VAR check was further complicated as VAR officials Timothy Wood and Darren England also had to also examine the possibility of hand balls prior to the tight offside call.
Both sets of fans voiced their disapproval at the interminable wait, chanting “it’s not football any more” and “this is embarrassing”.
Referee Sam Barrott, who eventually announced the decision to the crowd via a microphone, had to explain to the respective managers and players what was happening during the delay.
-Reuters
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FA Cup giant-killers Plymouth Argyle drew Premier League champions Manchester City on Monday as the second-tier side’s fifth-round reward for a shock defeat of Liverpool at the weekend.
Holders Manchester United will host Fulham at Old Trafford in one of at least three all-Premier League clashes, with League Cup finalists Newcastle United at home to top-tier rivals Brighton & Hove Albion.
Bournemouth will host Wolverhampton Wanderers in another all-top-flight encounter.
Struggling Plymouth caused one of the great upsets of the FA Cup on Sunday when they beat a second-string Liverpool 1-0, ending the Premier League leaders’ hopes of a quartet of trophies this season.
The Pilgrims are bottom of the Championship but City, who reached the fifth round with a 2-1 win at third-tier Leyton Orient on Saturday after going behind early on, have been misfiring this season.
There will be a fourth all-Premier League clash if Nottingham Forest avoid trouble at League One (third tier) Exeter City on Tuesday, with Ipswich Town awaiting the winners.
Aston Villa, who ended Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes on Sunday, host second tier Cardiff City.
The fifth round matches will be played on the weekend of March 1 and 2.
Last 16 draw:
- Preston North End v Burnley
- Aston Villa v Cardiff City
- Doncaster Rovers or Crystal Palace v Millwall
- Manchester United v Fulham
- Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion
- Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Manchester City v Plymouth Argyle
-Reuters
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A much-changed Liverpool were dumped out of the FA Cup by struggling second-tier side Plymouth Argyle, who pulled off a stunning 1-0 fourth-round win at Home Park on Sunday that put an end to the visitors’ hopes of a quadruple.
The hosts took the lead in the 53rd minute after they were awarded a penalty for a handball by midfielder Harvey Elliott and Ryan Hardie stepped up to send Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher the wrong way.
Premier League leaders Liverpool were bereft of ideas and had just one shot on target in the opening half, with Plymouth keeper Conor Hazard making a diving save in the 36th minute to keep out James McConnell’s long-range shot.
Ahead of the Merseyside derby against Everton on Wednesday, Liverpool made wholesale changes with Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Alexis Mac Allister among the big-names rested and left at home.
Liverpool, who were also forced into an early change when defender Joe Gomez went down injured, failed to create many chances in a scrappy encounter as Plymouth, who sit bottom of the second-tier Championship, gradually grew in confidence.
Arne Slot’s side switched gears after going down but Hazard proved to be the hero for Plymouth as the Northern Irishman brilliantly kept out Diogo Jota’s volley in added time, as well as a header from Darwin Nunez.
With Liverpool top of the Premier League, having strolled into the Champions League’s last 16 and reached the League Cup final, some fans and pundits had begun to speculate about a potential quadruple.
Plymouth’s remarkable victory, however, brought a shuddering halt to talk of clean sweep of silverware for Slot’s side, who had only lost three games all season, prior to Sunday.
Meanwhile, there was no surprise in the other FA Cup fourth-round tie with Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers beating second-tier Championship side Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Ewood Park.
There was little to separate the two teams in the opening minutes before Wolves hit Blackburn with two rapid-fire goals through midfielder Joao Gomes in the 33rd minute and seconds later via forward Matheus Cunha.
Blackburn defender Dominic Hyam had the ball in the back of the net in the 19th minute, but his celebrations were cut short when the linesman’s flag went up for offside.
-Reuters
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