Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TONIGHT
Where to watch first week’s matches Cases: 298,136 Deaths: 41,969 Cases: 8,202,272 Deaths: 443,573
Sport had huge viewing figures when football returned recently in Germany’s Bundesliga – with 750,000 tuning in across three channels, compared to the normal amount of around 50,000.
Betting firms are expecting huge sums to be splurged after they reopened across England on Monday in time for Royal Ascot and the Premier League restart.
A Ladbrokes survey found 47% of sports fans have missed the Premier League more than anything else – including the European Football Championships, the Olympics, Wimbledon, and the Grand National, all of which were cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19.
But just 4% of fans said they miss pundits and post-match analysis, while half said they will be watching as much sport as possible when it returns.
Around 43% of people in Liverpool are looking forward to watching Premier
Aston Villa v Sheffield United Man City v Arsenal
Norwich v Southampton Tottenham v Man Utd
Watford v Leicester Brighton v Arsenal Wolves
West Ham v Bournemouth v
League football, with the Reds needing just six points to claim their first Premier League title – but their 19th top-flight championship in all, the last one in 1990.
There were fears among many Liverpool fans that the season would be written off because of the pandemic. Ladbrokes said: “We can’t wait for the return of the Premier League and neither can punters.
“Despite the title being all but wrapped up, there’s still plenty for fans to sink their teeth into over the coming weeks and months.
“As a nation of sports fans we’ve missed the beautiful game enormously... Even though it’s behind closed doors, fans will be consuming it in their droves as the time apart has made them realise how much they love
Crystal Palace
Newcastle v Sheffield United Aston Villa v Chelsea Everton v Liverpool
Manchester United v Sheffield United Norwich v Everton it. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder and it’s great to have sport back at long last.”
Long-time West Ham player Sir Geoff will take a special interest in the first match tonight. He said: “I’ll be watching the Aston Villa game as we [West Ham] play them the last game of the season, so I want to know how they’re playing.”
He has seen footie re-runs in lockdown, including when he took part in a Ch4 show giving his insight as he watched the 1966 World Cup final.
Sir Geoff said it was “emotional”, having not watched it for years. He joked that playing in the final was “less stressful” than doing the TV show, which he appeared on via Zoom.