Premier League Ends as Coronavirus Pandemic Concerns Linger

But there won’t be a fifth consecutive season in the Champions League for the 2019 beaten finalists.

Although Mourinho dragged Tottenham back up the standings, a sixth-place finish means a return to the Europa League.

Mourinho will now need to strengthen the squad while not losing top-scorer Harry Kane to another lengthy injury layoff or a rival club.

“When all the players are available we showed in this last period where we belong," Mourinho said.

After moving into a new stadium last year, Tottenham has been particularly hard hit by the lack of matchday revenue.

But financial uncertainty is prevalent now throughout the world's richest league amid recession fears.

The government is planning on allowing fans to return to stadiums from October, but attendance could be capped at 25% with social distancing maintained.

How to bring fans back into games safely — while the Covid-19 threat lingers — is one of the big challenges facing the league as clubs head into an off-season that will last less than 50 days.

There is also a decision to be taken by clubs over whether to retain the use of five substitutes next season.

FIFA allowed the temporary use of two additional substitutes because of the extra workload on players after the lockdown.

What will remain for a second season is VAR — the video review system that caused frustrating delays in matches before the lockdown stopped games being played at all for more than two months in this longest of English seasons. 

(Writer: Rob Harris) 

Source: https://apnews.com/586b5f908a8d7d80a3fa6da787298b36