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It’s still a little difficult to really believe. Will probably be difficult to really believe until Aston Villa and Sheffield United kick off at 6PM BST on Wednesday evening. But Premier League football is coming back. It’s nearly here.
Villa and Sheffield kick things off tomorrow evening before Manchester City and Arsenal headline the day as the league takes care of all the games in hand before a full round of fixtures on the weekend. Including the Merseyside Derby.
“Football is back,” said Jürgen Klopp in a message to the fans today ahead of the Premier League’s restart. “It will be for some reasons completely different but you can still make it really really special.
“A lot of things have been said in the last few weeks, a lot of things we’ve thought about. There was a moment when we all realised football was not as important as the night before. I think that’s a good lesson.
“We had to show responsibility and we did show responsibility. There were times we thought we might not play again this season and now we stand here and know in a few days the league will start again because we were responsible.”
The focus on responsibility is part of a push from clubs around the league to remind fans to cheer on their teams when the games resume—but to be content to do so from home for the time being at least.
There will be a time when the fans return to the games. And until the day that can happen football won’t quite be the same; can’t be the same. But it will still be football, the game the players love to play and the fans love to watch.
“The league starts again so we can play again and we can go for our massive, big target again, and for this we need you,” Klopp added. “We always needed you. All these things are only special because of all of you.
“There will be a moment we all can sing [You’ll Never Walk Alone] again and that’s the moment we’re waiting for but until then we still play football. It will be different but it’s still football, and you will be at home but we will still feel your support.”