The Premier League- The COVID Season

by Wilf Brown

(image: Simon Basler)

To follow this season’s Premier League has been a thrilling and unusual experience, with the so-called lesser teams flying higher than ever before, and interesting clashes of giants. If you sum up everything that has happened over the past eight months, it is hard not to notice that it has been a season of football that has really stood out, mainly because of what was missing, the fans.

Is football anything without the fans?  Given the greater number of unexpected scores, and away teams doing better than they should, many teams may rightly think they would have performed better with their 12th man.

The season started with Arsenal beating Fulham 3-0, and Leeds United making a statement that they were not going to go the way of most promoted sides and be easy points for the established teams only losing 4-3 to reigning champions, Liverpool. Leeds remained on the front foot for the whole season, with “Bielsa ball” based on the concept of attack being the best form of defence! Given it was their first first Premier League season since their relegation (and subsequent fall through the leagues) in 2004, Leeds have surprised many (and disappointed their many critics!). 

Manchester City (also known as Man. City) were joint favorites to win the League, along with Liverpool, but after a 5-2 defeat against Leicester in the early stages, their odds started to look less favourable. Liverpool equally were thumped 7-2 by Aston Villa. Liverpool would continue to struggle until they ground out a 0-1 win against Southampton in December and subsequently enjoyed a comfortable run of 15 successive wins, until they lost to fierce rivals Manchester United 0-2 in March.  The “Red Devils” (as they are known to their fans) pushed Man City (also known as “The Citizens”) all the way, but a home loss to Liverpool a few days ago meant that Man City were finally crowned champions. 

As many already know, if you can’t win the Premier League and you avoid the dreaded relegation then you need to try and finish in the top four to guarantee entry to the lucrative European Champions league. At the time of writing, the two Manchester teams are qualified with two other slots being battled out between four other candidates; Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool, and West Ham. Which team will finish in third and fourth position is very hard to determine and this is where the current excitement rests.

The confirmed losers of this year’s Premier League battle are Fulham, Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion. If anything helps lift a team battling the threat of relegation it is the sound of their home fans cheering them on - who knows how these teams might have fared in a “normal” season. 

It will be fascinating to see if the success of the Manchester clubs can be continued into next season as the fans return (slowly and in reduced numbers) to the matches. For some clubs, the audible support of their fans will make such a difference that it may be that they come back stronger and more hungry for victory than ever before.