Find your own fire
Players need to adapt to ‘quiet’ stadium in restart
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admits players will have to find motivation without the urgency provided by fans when the Premier League restarts today.
Arteta’s side will feature in the second game of the Premier League relaunch when they face Manchester City at the Etihad, just hours after the opener between Aston Villa and Sheffield United.
The remaining 92 top-flight matches will all be played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus.
Having watched Germany’s Bundesliga return without fans on television before experiencing the situation himself last week during friendlies, Arteta is aware of the challenges.
He believes it will be hard for some players to display their usual intensity because they will not have the energy of a full stadium to feed off.
“When I was at the Emirates and there was no crowd, you cannot feel that energy, push or drive,” Arteta told reporters in a video press conference on Monday.
There will be no fans. And there will be no spitting either.
Players have been told to maintain distancing during goal celebrations. No spitting or nose-clearing is allowed and players will use their own water bottles.
And beginning with today’s action, there are a few other rules that the players must abide by.
Stadium safety
About 300 people will be allowed into stadiums for each of the remaining 92 matches of the season.
Grounds will be divided into three zones: red, amber and green. Each zone has unique protocols and procedures.
Only those who have undergone tests in the five days before a match can enter the red zone in any stadium, which includes the pitch, technical area, tunnel and dressing rooms.
Those individuals must have a “clinical passport” – a bar code that shows their most recent test result is negative – before being granted access.
Pre-match
Players and staff are required to undergo daily screening for the virus. Before leaving for a match, they must complete relevant checks for Covid-19 and report any symptoms.
Teams can travel to the stadium via car, coach, plane or train, but must do so in sterile environments and must observe social distancing.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder, whose team visit Aston Villa in the opening game of the relaunch today, said: “We are going on three buses. The main guys are on the first one, so you will see the team from who gets off first.”
Players and staff will be given a sterile route from their vehicles to the dressing rooms, which must have enough space to allow for suitable social distancing.
Teams will be encouraged to stagger their use of changing rooms. Showers can be used, as long as individuals remain socially distanced.
Sheffield United will not use the away dressing room at Villa Park and have instead been allocated a press room and players’ lounge to change in.
Hygiene
Widespread disinfection will take place including of changing facilities, dugouts, match balls, goalposts, corner flags and substitution boards.
The traditional handshakes between the two teams will no longer happen and there will also be no handshakes at the coin toss. — AFP