Premier League Project Restart returns with 22 live games in opening fortnight

Clubs have agreed to return to action on June 17, beginning with the two outstanding matchday 29 games.

Aston Villa vs Sheffield United – at 6pm – and Manchester City vs Arsenal – at 8pm – will restart the season, bringing all 20 top-flight teams to nine games remaining.

All games set to be played behind closed doors, football bosses want fans to have access to every game. As such, no two matches will be played simultaneously in what has been dubbed a ‘World Cup-style’ event.​

The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the return of the Premier League “would lift the spirits of the nation” and confirmed that a behind-closed-doors return is under “active consideration” by the government.

TV coverage

The remaining 92 games of the season will all be broadcast live on TV, with Amazon Prime and BBC winning rights along with regular broadcasters Sky Sports and BT Sport.

BBC will broadcast four games, for the first time in history, adding to a further 25 from Sky Sports to be shown free-to-air. Amazon will also show their four games for free, without the need of a subscription.

Wednesday June 17

Friday June 19

Saturday June 20

Sunday June 21

Monday June 22

Domestic and international broadcasters are demanding a rebate of roughly £340million, but there is optimism that the balance could be offset by a number of creative measures for screening matches, such as cameras in dressing rooms.

Plans are for up to a minute of footage to be aired from changing rooms pre-match, at half-time and post-match, although the latter would only be for the winning team.

Among other plans were for managers to wear microphones on match days, but fears over unsuitable language and the threat of sanctions towards managers mean that idea has been scrapped, so, too, constant filming of the dugout and technical areas.