Coronavirus in sport: London mayor opposes Premier League resumption in June

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Bengaluru, May 13: London mayor Sadiq Khan is reportedly opposed to the idea of the Premier League resuming in the capital next month as there is a surge in the number novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic cases in the UK.

Premier League aims to return in June and after the UK government stated recently that professional sport will not start till June, earliest, the league could be held behind closed doors.

Premier League has nine rounds (92 matches) remaining to complete the season and the concerns have been growing for the long time whether they will be able to finish the season.

"Sadiq is extremely keen for the Premier League and professional sport in general to resume. However, with the country still in the grips of this crisis, and hundreds of people dying every day, he believes that it's too early to be discussing the resumption of the Premier League and top-flight sport in the capital," a spokesperson for the mayor's office was quoted as saying in the Evening Standard.

When the Premier League was stopped in March, Liverpool was leading the standings, requiring only six points to clinch the title.

Points Table

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor said it was crucial that every safety precaution had been taken for the players.

"The players don't want to be seen as guinea pigs and that'll apply to everyone in professional sport," said Taylor.

Currently Korea's K League is the only football action happening all over the world, though it has come out with many restrictions as well as innovations.

The German Bundesliga is set to resume this weekend behind closed doors while La Liga is also expected to re-start sometime next month despite fresh cases of COVID-19 being reported during training.

If the Premier League does resume, that will also be according to strict guidelines which includes pitches, corner flags, cones and goal posts being disinfected after each session.