Southgate believes it is inappropriate and not essential for England staff to attend games with all 92 set to be televised
Tuesday 2 June 2020 14:25, UK
England manager Gareth Southgate will not be attending any Premier League games when the season gets back under way, and will instead watch them at home.
The England boss believes it is inappropriate and not essential for him or any members of his backroom staff to attend games as they are all set to be televised.
It could mean Southgate may not scout his players until next season and may also not see them in person until then, due to strict social distancing guidelines at Premier League training grounds.
England were set to take on Italy and Denmark as part of a Wembley double-header in March to prepare for their Euro 2020 campaign, but all international games have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Their last fixture was a 4-0 win away at Kosovo in the last game of the Euro 2020 qualifying group stage.
Premier League football is poised to return after a three-month shutdown on June 17 with Manchester City-Arsenal and Aston Villa-Sheffield United.
Premier League players are facing a crucial week of testing as any positive test would likely rule them out from the opening round of restarted games.
All players and club staff are being tested for coronavirus twice a week ahead of the restart date of June 17, with this week's sessions taking place on Tuesday and Friday.
The current protocol as part of Project Restart rules that in any case of a Premier League player returning a positive test he would be kept away from group training for a total of 14 days including the seven days of government-advised self-isolation.
It means although players can return to the training ground for individual work on day eight, subject to testing negative for the virus, they would not be able to reach 'match fitness' until the day before their first game back.
With Manchester City-Arsenal and Aston Villa-Sheffield United set to kickstart the league resumption in just over two weeks' time, it means any player from those clubs that tests positive on Tuesday would almost certainly be forced to sit out their return to action.
Players from other clubs would likely also miss their first game should they return a positive test in the second batch on Friday - if, as expected, the Premier League confirms its first full round of fixtures will take place as expected on the weekend of Saturday, June 20.
Sky Sports will show 64 live Premier League games when the season resumes. In addition to the 39 matches already scheduled to be broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports before the coronavirus interruption, 25 more matches will be available on both Sky Sports Premier League and Sky's free-to-air Pick channel, allowing the whole nation to be part of the return of live sport.
