Coronavirus pandemic
Full training for EPL clubs next month ahead of restart?
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Arsenal players will be allowed to return to the London Colney ground this week for training. The club joins West Ham, Brighton and Tottenham in opening training facilities to players.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON • Arsenal, West Ham, and Brighton opened their training grounds to players on Monday as Premier League clubs took steps towards a potential restart.
The English top flight is reportedly eyeing a resumption of the season on June 8 following its suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Project Restart" could see the 20 Premier League clubs resume full training by May 18, allowing players a three-week "pre-season".
All clubs are committed to finishing this season's 92 remaining fixtures, with Liverpool on the brink of their first English top-flight title for 30 years. All games are set to be held behind closed doors.
Britain's Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he has spoken to clubs about restarting the Premier League "as soon as possible".
"I personally have been in talks with the Premier League with a view to getting football up and running as soon as possible in order to support the whole football community," Dowden said during a parliamentary questions session for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. "But, of course, any such moves would have to be consistent with public health guidance."
Brighton said in a statement on Monday the club were allowing "restricted external access to the training pitches for first-team players only, for non-compulsory individual training".
"Players will need to book and be allotted staggered arrival slots, allocated their own area to train and expected to fully adhere to social distancing rules while doing so, and when arriving and exiting the facility," the statement added.
A West Ham spokesman said players in apartments or without safe access to green spaces were permitted access to training pitches. "Access will be limited to one player at a time and all sessions will be in line with government guidelines around social distancing," he said.
An Arsenal club spokesman confirmed players would be allowed to return this week but access would be carefully managed.
Tottenham also reopened some facilities yesterday, with a limited amount of pitches to be made available.
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HOW ARSENAL ARE TRAINING
• Players arrive in groups of five but train individually. They will do stretching and running with a ball, according to the BBC.
• Ten pitches are used to ensure players adhere to social distancing measures.
• Each player has his own ball.
• Players have designated parking spaces.
• Buildings at the training ground remain closed.
Britain, on lockdown until May 7 at the earliest, has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, with more than 150,000 infections and over 20,000 deaths.
Premier League chiefs are due to meet the clubs on Friday.
According to The Guardian, the league will present the clubs with a protocol to enable a full return to training.
The BBC reported that another issue on the meeting agenda will be what stadiums will be used and whether that will be a limited number of grounds or neutral venues.
St George's Park - England's training base - Wembley, and rugby union's home Twickenham are among the options for neutral venues.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
