Liverpool had built up an incredible 25-point margin over Manchester City in second place, with our closest rivals having 10 games left to play – one more than us.
We could have won the 2019-20 Premier League as early as this past Monday with a six-point swing, but for the COVID-19 epidemic that has struck disaster to sporting events, businesses and virtually everyone worldwide over the past couple of weeks.
If Burnley or Arsenal had beaten Manchester City, we would have been crowned champions on Monday 16 April with a victory over Everton at Goodison Park. It would have been a Liverpool fan’s dream come true.
However, we are now waiting on news on the coronavirus outbreak and from the FA to see whether the remainder of the 2019-20 Premier League season can even be finished.
Football is not the only victim. One of the biggest sporting events to be cancelled so far is the 2020 Grand National, which had originally been scheduled for Saturday 3 April at Aintree.
It was announced on Tuesday that the Grand National had been cancelled and the racing calendar suspended until the end of April at the earliest, after Cheltenham went ahead as usual last weekend. Tiger Roll had been the bookmakers’ favourite to win the Grand National, as well as being very popular on the early horse racing tips to win the event for a record third consecutive time.
The Premier League had already been suspended by this point, as had many football leagues, the NHL, NBA and Six Nations rugby. However, there were still some rugby league matches played in England last weekend. Their league has since been suspended. In football, the Russian Premier League and Turkish Super Lig both continued as normal over the weekend too.
UEFA has already postponed Euro 2020 by 12 months and wants all domestic competitions completed before the end of June.
With each Premier League side having 9-10 games remaining and with the FA Cup being at the quarter-final stage, it’s possible to squeeze the fixtures into a six week schedule. The FA says they’re doing all they can to get the season complete, which could be behind closed doors if necessary.
There has been no word on whether the season could be ruled complete or simply voided as of yet. Whilst supporters of Everton, Manchester United and the likes are hoping for the league to be null and void, this would simply be a catastrophe to all of those involved.
Whilst Liverpool FC would be the biggest victims, clubs such as Leicester City, Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion in England alone would also be significant losers.
With plenty of time on our hands, we ran the remaining Liverpool and Manchester City fixtures on FIFA 21 to see how the 2019-20 Premier League may have ended. Here were the results:
Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal
Manchester City 3-0 Burnley
Everton 1-2 Liverpool
Chelsea 3-1 Manchester City
Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool
Southampton 0-2 Manchester City
Liverpool 0-1 Aston Villa
Manchester City 1-1 Newcastle United
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-0 Burnley
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Manchester City
Arsenal 3-1 Liverpool
Manchester City 3-0 Bournemouth
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea
Watford 0-2 Manchester City
Manchester City 3-0 Norwich City
Newcastle United 0-1 Liverpool
We would have won the 2019-20 Premier League at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday 21 March and the final table would have finished as:
