England’s top-flight football league, English Premier League (EPL) is all set to return to action from June 17, three months after being distrupted due to the novel coronavirus that has spread all over the world.

In an official statement, EPL said that its shareholders have agreed to the new provisional restart date with all the COVID-19 safety guidelines in place.

“Premier League Shareholders today agreed to a new provisional restart date for the 2019/20 season of Wednesday 17 June, provided that all safety requirements are in place,” the statement said.

The Premier League will resume with Manchester City vs Arsenal clash and Aston Villa vs Sheffield United match on June 17. These matches will be followed by a full match round beginning on June 19.

The EPL further confirmed that all the 92 remaining matches in the season will take place behind closed doors due to fear of coronavirus pandemic.  

The matches will be broadcast live in the United Kingdom by the League’s existing broadcast partners: Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC Sport and Amazon Prime.

Reflecting on the EPL restart, Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said that though the shareholders have provisionally agreed for the date, the resumption cannot be confirmed until all the safety requirements are met.

“Today we have provisionally agreed to resume the Premier League on Wednesday 17 June.But this date cannot be confirmed until we have met all the safety requirements needed, as the health and welfare of all participants and supporters is our priority,” he said. 

“Sadly, matches will have to take place without fans in stadiums, so we are pleased to have come up with a positive solution for supporters to be able to watch all the remaining 92 matches,” Richard added.

Meanwhile, the planned kick-off timings in the United Kingdom for live matches will also differ from the traditional timings. 

On May 19, the Premier League clubs returned to training in small groups as a part of their first step towards returning to action since the top flight football league in England was suspended on March 13 due to coronavirus outbreak.