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.
Arsenal survived a genuine scare in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday as they edged past spirited third-tier Mansfield Town 2-1, with Eberechi Eze’s thunderbolt sending the Premier League leaders into the quarter-finals.
Noni Madueke gave Arsenal the lead going into halftime at Field Mill, but Will Evans equalised for Nigel Clough’s Mansfield before Eze scored in the 66th minute to ensure the top-flight side progressed to the last eight.
“Happy to score. I had the space and the opportunity to shoot. So I took it,” Eze told TNT Sports.
“It was a difficult environment to play in. But we did what we had to do and we are through to the next round, which is the important thing.”
Mikel Arteta named a much-changed side, starting teenagers Max Dowman and Marli Salmon, as Arsenal became the first Premier League side to start a competitive game with two players aged 16 or under in any competition.
However, Arteta’s changes nearly backfired as the hosts, feeding off a raucous home crowd, gave Arsenal a genuine fright with aggressive pressing and infectious energy that clearly unsettled the visitors.
“Before the game, the gaffer said, ‘Have a go. We were not expected to win the game, so have a go and enjoy it,” Mansfield forward Rhys Oates said.
“We created more chances than we thought we could, and we have given them a game.”
Dowman, Arsenal’s youngest-ever FA Cup player at 16, emerged as a lively attacking threat as the top-flight side gradually found their rhythm before Madueke broke the deadlock in the 41st minute.
Madueke, who had an initial shot saved, curled a powerful finish into the far corner to give Arsenal their 100th goal of the season in all competitions.
Clough brought on Evans for the second half, and the Welsh striker made an immediate impact, netting five minutes after coming on.
The 28-year-old wrong-footed a second-guessing Cristhian Mosquera before finishing past Kepa Arrizabalaga in Arsenal’s goal.
“It’s typical, isn’t it? For me to have a league goal drought and then come on for a half against Arsenal and have a goal against them,” Evans said.
Arsenal were rattled but recovered and found the winner when substitute Eze made space for himself and fired a powerful shot from the edge of the box to silence the crowd at Field Mill and keep Arsenal’s quadruple bid on track.
-Reuters
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Chelsea’s Alejandro Garnacho and Joao Pedro struck in extra time to secure a nervy 4–2 win over second‑tier Wrexham and reach the FA Cup quarter‑finals on Saturday as the Premier League giants escaped from the Racecourse Ground after a tough battle.
Garnacho volleyed home from close range in the 97th minute with such force that the ball ricocheted off the back stanchion to give Chelsea the lead for the first time on the night.
Wrexham — who lost George Dobson to a 93rd-minute red card — thought they had equalised deep into added time in the extra period when Lewis Brunt headed home, but he was offside. Pedro then sealed Chelsea’s win with a fine goal in the 125th minute.
Sam Smith had put the Championship side ahead in the 18th when he sprinted onto Callum Doyle’s long pass, took a touch and fired past Robert Sanchez. Chelsea equalised with a huge slice of luck when George Thomason’s attempt to clear Garnacho’s shot struck goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo and rolled in.
Wrexham went back in front after 78 minutes when Doyle diverted the ball past Sanchez after Ryan Longman fired it back into the area from a corner. But Josh Acheampong equalised soon after with a blistering shot into the roof of the net after Dobson slipped to send the game into extra time.
-Reuters
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Arsenal will visit League One Mansfield Town, while Manchester City travel to Newcastle United in a mouth-watering all-Premier League tie following the FA Cup fifth round draw on Monday.
Third-tier Mansfield stunned top-flight strugglers Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor on Saturday and have been rewarded with a clash against 14-time winners and Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola’s City face Newcastle in a repeat of one of this season’s League Cup semi-finals, while Premier League bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers host Liverpool.
Brentford head to West Ham United after an own goal away to sixth-tier Macclesfield, who stunned holders Crystal Palace in the last round, giving them a 1-0 win on Monday.
Championship side Wrexham welcome eight-time winners Chelsea, while Fulham entertain Southampton and Leeds United host another second-tier side in Norwich City.
Sunderland face a second successive away trip after being drawn against Port Vale or Bristol City, whose fourth-round tie has been postponed until March 3 due to a waterlogged pitch.
FA Cup fifth round draw
- Fulham v Southampton
- Port Vale or Bristol City v Sunderland
- Newcastle United v Manchester City
- Leeds United v Norwich City
- Mansfield Town v Arsenal
- Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool
- Wrexham v Chelsea
- West Ham United v Brentford
Matches to be played over the weekend of March 7–8
-Reuters
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