Premier League soap opera began on a warm, noisy night at Anfield and will end in the cold dystopia of fake crowd noise It all began with Divock Origi, on a balmy Friday evening at a packed Anfield. He danced down the left wing, squeezed in a cross, Grant Hanley sliced the ball into his own net, and we were away. As Liverpool’s players celebrated, their fans spilled out into the aisles, filling the night with song. Meanwhile, as Norwich regrouped, their fans in the Anfield Road end roared them on, demanding a reaction. It was early August, the 2019-20 Premier League season was six minutes old and the months ahead heaved with sheer possibility.Every new season begins like this, with fresh promise and fresh faces and fresh grass and fresh hope. New kits are launched, new players unveiled. Predictions are made and swiftly shredded. Yet has there ever been a season of English football that has so violently confounded the expectations vested in it? At the end of a campaign that in its attritional length, toxic temper and human toll has occasionally felt more like war than sport, the dominant sensation is one not of relief, but exhaustion. Well played, everyone. Great effort. Now let’s all meet back here in six weeks for more of the same. Related: Premier League to start on 12 September but break for players remains an issue Related: Relegation zone: What Aston Villa, Watford and Bournemouth need to do Related: Liverpool's Jordan Henderson named football writers' player of the year Continue reading
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Source: TheGuardian
