Premier League could restart with Tottenham vs. Manchester United

Project Restart is hardly a sure thing, even after the UK government approved sporting events to take place behind closed doors in June. However, should plans go ahead, Tottenham Hotspur could feature as part of football’s triumphant return.

According to the Evening Standard, Premier League officials are considering making Tottenham’s home match against Manchester United, originally scheduled for March 15, as the first match in the restart plans. The league wants to open things with one match, on a Friday evening, possibly scheduled on either June 12 or 19.

With 92 total Premier League matches remaining and not a whole lot of time left to complete it, the weekly schedule released at the beginning of the season is probably now thrown out the window. It’s likely that we’ll see a revised schedule, with multiple matches in a week as the league tries to complete the 2019-20 season as quickly as possible before moving on to the 2020-21 campaign. There are ongoing talks to make “a number” of matches available free-to-air in the UK, as Sky Sports and BT Sport own broadcast rights for only about half of the available matches.

Spurs vs. United is a marquee matchup to be sure, and was probably the plum game of the original “Week 30” round of fixtures, along with the Merseyside Derby which was scheduled to be played on Monday, March 16. It would be a fitting game to kick-start the league, with both clubs jostling for position and trying to secure qualification for European football. The remainder of that week’s matches would take place on Saturday through Monday.