An unexpectedly long Premier League season comes to a close on Sunday, more than 11 months after it began.
Thanks to coronavirus, the league campaign is actually finishing two weeks after the original date for the Euro 2020 final.
But now, after more than five weeks of matches being played behind closed doors, the Premier League season comes to a close, with Liverpool as its champions for the first time.
Next season will see Leeds United in the top flight for the first time since 2004, and they will be joined by West Brom, who return to the Premier League after a two-year absence.
Premier League 2020/21 start date
The delayed finish to the 2019/20 campaign means next season will also start later than usual.
Usually fans see their teams return to action on the second weekend of August, but given that’s only two weeks from the final day of the current season, that’s not happening this summer.
On Thursday it was confirmed that the 2020/21 campaign will begin on the weekend of September 12/13, leaving a gap of seven weeks between seasons.
The 2020/21 season will end on May 23, three weeks before the provisional start date of the delayed Euro 2020 finals.
Premier League teams
(Image: PA)
After a 16-year absence – the longest in their history – Leeds United are back in the top flight.
Marcelo Bielsa led the Elland Road side to the Championship title in July.
West Brom pipped Brentford to the second automatic promotion spot, leaving the West London side in the play-offs alongside Fulham, Cardiff and Swansea.
The 19 confirmed teams for next season’s Premier League are:
- Arsenal
- Aston Villa
- Brighton
- Burnley
- Chelsea
- Crystal Palace
- Everton
- Leeds
- Leicester
- Liverpool
- Manchester City
- Manchester United
- Newcastle
- Sheffield United
- Southampton
- Tottenham Hotspur
- West Brom
- West Ham
- Wolves
Will fans be allowed in?
(Image: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Supporters can be encouraged by recent reports which suggest they can expect to return to stadiums next season.
On July 17, the Government said that fans could be allowed into stadiums from October 1, if a number of pilot events with spectators proves successful.
At present none of these pilot fixtures are football matches – instead cricket, snooker and horse racing is being used in the trial – but it could pave the way for Premier Legue stadiums to reopen, with social distancing measures in place, in the autumn.
