As of yesterday morning, the Premier League has suspended play until April 4 over coronavirus fears. With Liverpool FC 25 points up with nine matches left, and second place Manchester City (who have ten remaining) only able to collect a maximum 30 points the rest of the way, LFC are certainly champions-elect.
The end of their top flight title drought (which extends all the way back to 1990), is imminent provided the 2019-20 PL season is concluded/made official. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph today, Liverpool will likely be crowned league champions, once the season is officially canceled.
There is an emergency meeting, of all 20 PL clubs, called for next Thursday, and reportedly there is little opposition to rewarding the Merseyside club the silverware. There are expectations that the worst is yet to come for the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, and that we could see that peak in May.
As it stands, this is the longest the top flight has been shut down since WWII.
And it’s all so very surreal given how just 11 days ago, Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp scoffed at the notion of the coronavirus outbreak negating his side’s title season. Most people believed as the German did then, but everything has just escalated so quickly.
Klopp also gave a very powerful, poignant statement yesterday in response to the PL cancellation.
Beyond that it will be time to consider some options for next season, and there are myriad ways that things can go, with perhaps a 22-team Premier League, possibly played in dovetail with the winter World Cup (another event itself that is unprecedented).
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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