Players' voices and the return of Rashford — what to look forward to when Premier League football returns

It's official: after a three month absence, the Premier League is back. June 17 is the new start date and so as we look ahead to Project Restart, we asked our award-winning team of football writers what they are most looking forward to watching when football finally returns.

Sam Wallace

How do teams adapt their style of play to what is a truncated pre-season? Will Liverpool still press opposition high up the pitch? Will others attempt to play a more conservative game because of the fear that the conditioning of players does not permit them to do more? Manager will have to decide early on how they approach their first rounds of games and the tactical approach based on the general fitness of their squads. At least they will have, in most cases, a full range of players from which to choose.

Some teams will benefit from empty stadiums too. Younger players in particular will find it less inhibiting, and manager will only know who comes out of it stronger when the games begin.

Paul Hayward

Liverpool winning the league will feel like a great mission rescued from an external threat that might have left a terrible injustice in English football.

A curtailment of the season would not have come close to matching recent human tragedies, but Liverpool's comeback (which is a fair way to see it) from 30 years without a title has been earned, through brilliant football, and Jurgen Klopp's intelligence and passion. This is a great football club, transitioned to the corporate age, but nonetheless a monument to tradition and communal spirit.

Matt Law

I am looking forward to worrying. Not about the health of my family, my friends or my neighbours, or the economy and what the future might hold. But the distraction of anxiety that supporting my club, Aston Villa brings. Of course the bigger, more important, worries will not go away, but on a matchday, at least, they will be replaced by largely meaningless concerns such as how fit will John McGinn be? Can Jack Grealish pull us out of the relegation zone? And whether or not Sheffield United will be better prepared for that first game back on June 17?

In the grand scheme of things all pretty inconsequential and yet oh so important to a return to some sort of normality.

Sam Dean

One of the unexpected joys of the restarted Bundesliga season has been the voices of the players and managers coming through our TV screens. The complaints over a lack of atmosphere are understandable, and no right-minded football fan wants supporters to be banned for long, but it will be fascinating to hear what Premier League players and coaches are saying on the pitch.

Which players talk the most? What sort of messages are the coaches trying to give them? How much do they really shout at the referee? This period of behind-closed-doors matches could provide us with a rare insight into one of the most important aspects of top-level football: communication. We can only hope they will not be drowned out by any artificial crowd noise.

Jim White

Watching Marcus Rashford back on a football field is going to be a delight. During lockdown the Manchester United forward brilliantly challenged the misconception that footballers are aloof from social responsibility. He used his renown energetically to spearhead a campaign raising money for foodbanks. Thanks to his engagement more than 20 million meals have been provided to needy families. Football's prolonged absence has allowed Rashford to recuperate from the serious injury that would otherwise have curtailed his season. Now with the hiatus over, he will have opportunity to show he is as classy an operator on the pitch as he is off it.

JJ Bull

With a Premier League game every night it's going to feel like we're watching the most amazing summer tournament - a World Cup of clubs - in a competition that we haven't stopped thinking and talking about since football went away.

The excitement of a big top-four clash, the drama of relegation threatened teams scrapping it out, even Burnley - and it's all there to enjoy, to pick and choose from like an endless Netflix menu of live football every night. It's an entirely unique situation and one which will (we hope) never happen again.

As for the actual football, without crowds the actual quality of the football will be smack-in-the-face obvious from the first kick. In Germany the tempo of the passing, the thump of the ball, the incredible first touches, the pace of the game, and the intensity of elite players vs elite players has made for fascinating entertainment, but discovering what Arsenal players actually say to each other during a game, hearing what Jurgen Klopp yells without a crowd to rev up, learning how much respect the players actually pay to the referee... it's all gold.

According to a few managers and coaches I have spoken to in the last wee while, the games are likely to be more tactical and less about blood and thunder. This might not please those who consume football like the high end soap opera it has definitely become and love the drama (we all do), but will provide people like me (nerds) with a chance to view the game through a prism that never seemed possible before. I can't wait.

Mike McGrath

The first big dust-up will confirm that football is well and truly back after three months of waiting. It may be a socially-distanced row but it will show the passion of managers or players, which is what makes the Premier League the best football competition in the world.

There will be great goals but that first moment when tempers flare will be when football returns. It will spark conversations after matches, phone calls over the did-you-see-that moment away from the goals and chances that will be shown on the highlights. Without passion in the stands, it will be down to the players and managers to provide it.

John Percy

Football's return is far more than just money, television ratings and self-interest.

That has been the accusation levelled at the Premier League during the two months of uncertainty amid a horrible, and unprecedented, time that even England's frontline sport has been unable to defend itself against.

But football is just like the airline industry, and the building trade: a profession that employs thousands of people regardless of the live TV games, the sackings, the signings, the razzmatazz, the glamour and the glitz.

It needs to go on.

Football provides structure, a routine, and most importantly, an escape for millions of people around the world.

I'll always remember being in the United States for a Liverpool pre-season tour and how even the meaningless friendlies were televised at a time, at an ungodly hour to be frank, to please the world.

America is clearly not alone, this is a product that unites people and simply illustrates the enduring allure of English football, from Brian Clough's miraculous European adventures to Sir Alex Ferguson's 'bloody hell'.

Coronavirus remains a serious issue, and we must never forget that, but we all need football. We love it, don't we?

Daniel Zeqiri

A season which threatened to finish with a series of foregone conclusions suddenly has a dose of unpredictability. With the exception of Liverpool and Manchester City, there is little to separate many teams in the division and the quality of those in the relegation battle is strong.

Add the unforeseeable effects of a three-month stoppage, empty stadiums imperiling home advantage, varying fitness levels both between teams and within squads, playing games in summer heat plus the return of injured players and there is potential for some wild sequences of results. It would be surprising if any team produced a substantial winning run.

Luke Edwards

Well it certainly will not be games played in empty stadiums. Although you do gradually get used to it, those shown in Germany remain a required taste because of the lack of atmosphere.

It will be interesting to see who copes with it best. My fear is the Premier League will lose its ability to shock, that the team with the best technical players will always win. For some, that is how it should be, but for those of us who believe the variables in football are what make it special might struggle.

Will Sheffield United be as good without fans in Bramall Lane? Can Aston Villa avoid relegation without the help of their fans at Villa Park? Can Steve Bruce guide Newcastle to a FA Cup Final, in what is almost certainly going to be his first and last season as manager, without a partisan crowd at St James’ Park?

Can Liverpool win the title without Anfield's help… given Jurgen Klopp’s have also been the best side by some distance, it is inevitable they will secure the first league title for 30 years. The drama and intrigue is likely to come elsewhere in the battle for European qualification and to avoid relegation.

Chris Bascombe

It is not just what there is to look forward to with football’s return - that is obvious for those craving live sport.

There is as much enthusiasm for cancelling mundane weekends where plans can not extend beyond going for a walk in which you must avoid walking in front of a car when giving way to passing pedestrians, before returning to consider which box set to watch, and whether a subscription to Disney Plus is value for money.

For many of us, our daily schedule is dictated by the football fixture list. Only in its absence have we come to realise how much we want our lives run by the great Premier League dictator.

• What are you most looking forward to about the return of the Premier League? Let us know in the comments below