English Premier League plans surprise inspections as teams return to training

English Premier League authorities are planning to implement new inspection methods to ensure that all clubs will adhere to the new safety guidelines as the league prepares to resume amidst the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Among the methods that are to be used are surprise inspections, GPS tracking, and video analysis. Interestingly, the teams in the Premier League have agreed to begin non-contact training from Tuesday. The training would be held among small groups.

Premier League's director of football, Richard Garlick said, "Gradually, we aim to ramp that up so we can have an inspector at every training ground. That will enable us to give confidence the protocols are being complied with. We are looking at bringing in our own independent audit inspection team that we'll scale up over the next few days which will give us the ability to have inspections at training grounds to start with on a no-notice basis."

On Monday, the clubs and the league authorities conducted a meeting regarding "Project Restart." In the meeting, the clubs agreed to follow certain return-to-training protocols.

As part of the discussion, it was decided that training would be conducted in small groups of no more than five footballers. Besides this, the training session for each player must not last longer than 75 minutes. Also, social distancing norms are to be followed throughout.

After the meeting, the league's chief executive, Richard Masters, revealed that there are also plans to present the trophy to the title winners in case the season couldn't be completed because of safety concerns.

In this regard, Liverpool is likely to win its first league title in three decades. The Reds are currently on top of the league standings with a whopping 25 point lead ahead of second-placed Manchester City.

According to BBC, a survey among 138 Premier League and English Football League doctors and physiotherapists revealed that more than half of them don't fully understand what their roles, responsibilities, and liabilities would be, once the clubs return to training.

However, the Premier League said that the first stage of training resumption has been agreed after consulting with players, managers, doctors, experts, and the government.

Previously, the league had identified June 12 as a possible date for matches to start. However, given the current situation, it is likely that the date would be further pushed back.

The UK has recorded over 246,400 coronavirus positive cases and more than 34,700 deaths already.