Premier League look to finish season playing 'home and away'

With the coronavirus pandemic continuing, the Premier League hopes for the season to be completed with games played home and away, rather than at neutral venues, if the campaign resumes next month.

Having been suspended since March, the Premier League is committed to finishing the season, with all 20 clubs behind playing the remaining games.

However, the bottom six clubs are believed to be against plans to do so at neutral venues, believing it would put clubs fighting relegation at a competitive disadvantage.

The British government published its plans for exiting lockdown on Monday, when the Premier League held a virtual meeting regarding its Project Restart plans.

Chief executive Richard Masters revealed the league had listened to those clubs who wish to play games home and away rather than at neutral sites.

He said: "Everybody would prefer to play home and away if at all possible

"It's clear to see that some clubs feel more strongly about that than others. It is an ongoing dialogue and we've been talking to the authorities about the conditions in which we could get the Premier League back up and running and taking all that advice on board.

"We are working flat out to create a responsible, safe, and deliverable model to complete the season.

"No decisions will be made until after we have talked to players and managers and those meetings are scheduled for later this week."

Masters did, though, reveal that the prospect of bringing the season to a close without completing the games was discussed.

"It was the first time we discussed curtailment - it's still our aim to finish the season, obviously, but it's important to discuss all the options with our clubs," Masters added.

"What I can say is that all of the talk was about finishing the season. No conclusions were reached on any other models. Those are future conversations we may need to have."