Gareth Southgate will not be present to watch England players when Premier League returns

Gareth Southgate will resist attending stadiums to watch his players when the Premier League season restarts.

The England manager, who usually monitors his squad in person regularly, is preparing to keep an eye on their form using a live feed of the remaining 92 matches, with those inside grounds deemed “essential” to staging games during the coronavirus pandemic.

In normal circumstances directors’ boxes are filled with guests and Southgate was seen most weekends at matches to watch players with hopes of going to the European Championships.

Calculations on how many people can be at a fixture are yet to be finalised but Southgate is ready to watch from his home in Yorkshire rather than add to the list of people who will be tested and cleared for Covid-19 before watching a game.

"Gareth Southgate hasn't asked to attend (games) and wouldn't look to during this initial period, due to it not being considered essential - and in light of the remote footage of matches being made available to him,” said an FA source.

England were meant to be playing Austria in a friendly this week in the build-up to the Euro 2020 finals, which had matches scheduled at Wembley including the semi-finals and final of the tournament.

With sport closing its doors temporarily following coronavirus spread, the Euros were pushed back a year but Southgate still has Nations League matches to prepare for in September, with UEFA determined to keep their competition going.

Southgate will be watching potential players for 2021 when football starts up again but believes he can look at players adequately with the footage sent to him.

With managers preferring to watch players in the flesh, Southgate is likely to return to the stands when protocols are expanded and more are allowed into stadiums.

Should the Euros have gone ahead, he would have needed to make tough decisions in areas such as right-back where he has Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker and Aaron Wan-Bissaka competing for places.

He also has Sheffield United’s Dean Henderson pushing for a goalkeeper place among uncapped players looking to impress.

For his last squad, Southgate picked 27 players which would need to be trimmed to 23 for a tournament. That was for the qualifiers against Montenegro and Kosovo in November, with the England boss now facing 10 months without a game.