Sky Sports an early fixture for returning Blades games
SHEFFIELD UNITED will kick off the return of English football after the coronavirus pandemic, with their first four league games all live on Sky Sports.
The Premier League returns on June 17, and it has been confirmed the Blades will play the opening game, at Aston Villa at 6pm.
The match is their game in hand on Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and winning it will take them above both into fifth in the Premier League, putting them firmly in contention for Champions League qualification.
Chris Wilder’s men will then take on Newcastle United in a 2pm kick-off at St James’s Park on the Sunday.
The crucial game away to the Red Devils will be another Wednesday 6pm match, again on Sky.
Tottenham Hotspur are due at
Bramall Lane at 8.15pm on June 30.
Before that, they welcome Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-final, in a game to be screened on BT Sport. That will kick off at 5pm on June 27.
All remaining Premier League and FA Cup games will be broadcast live, with the rights shared by Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime and the BBC.
The venue for the game against Manchester United is still to be confirmed, with agreement reached in yesterday’s Premier League meeting that neutral venues can be used where needed.
The measure will only apply to high-risk matches where concerns are raised by the local safety advisory group. The Blades’ trip to Old Trafford is one of the fixtures highlighted, but no decision is thought to have been reached yet.
In line with Germany’s Bundesliga and as expected, Premier League clubs have agreed to adopt
the International Football Association Board’s temporary rule change which allows teams to use five substitutes a game, instead of the usual three. Clubs will also be allowed matchday squads of 20, up from the usual 18.
The changes are designed to ease concerns about increased injuries for players who will have not had a match for more than three months, and who went more than two months without contact training because of the lockdown. Even with five substitutions, there has been a big spike in Bundesliga injuries.
There will be limits on when substitutions can be made during games to reduce time-wasting. Teams will be restricted to three during games, plus another opportunity at half-time, meaning they will have to make at least one double substitution to use their full compliment.
On the face of it, bigger squads and more substitutes might seem to favour some of the bigger clubs Sheffield United are competing with as they look to qualify for European football for the first time.
Although manager Wilder usually utilises all three of his available substitutes, the Blades have only used 22 players this season. Only Leicester City, Burnley and Wolves have used fewer, although perhaps tellingly, all three are also in European contention to some degree, and Sheffield United still have Wolves and the Foxes to play.
And Wilder’s players have spent all season defying footballing logic.
They have two opportunities to qualify for Europe, through the league or FA Cup.
Depending on Manchester City’s appeal against their twoyear ban from European competition, which is due to be heard from next week, but may not be ruled on for two months, fifth place could qualify for the Champions League.
No decision was made on how the final standings should be resolved if the 92 remaining games cannot be played. It is a contentious issue and scrapping relegation as some hope could deny second-tier Leeds United the opportunity of promotion.
The Football Association has made clear it wants promotion and relegation between the divisions regardless, and the Football League are also against blocking the path from the Championship to the top flight.