Watford defender Kiko Femenía has revealed he thinks next season will be played behind closed doors as the world still comes to grips with the Coronavirus outbreak.
Premier League football is set to return on the June 17 after clubs unanimously voted to end the season as soon as possible.
The football calendar has been suspended for the best part of three months as the United Kingdom battled to bring the COVID-19 crisis under control.
That has now begun to happen, with football stepping up its plan to return via Project Restart, which has been designed to ensure máximum safety across the board.
One of the new rules has been that games will be played behind closed doors for the foreseeable future, something the Watford man sees happening next season too.
“I think that there are many different opinions, some that people will accept and some that you won’t. There are opinions on all sides,” he told EITB.
“The Premier League decided to start again on June 17, and I think it will undoubtedly be behind closed doors and I think that will almost certainly be the case next season.
“Whether that will be on neutral grounds or not hasn’t been spoken about much here yet, and we don’t know if we will play in our own stadiums or elsewhere.
“Those details aren’t available yet, and I believe that they will talk about it this week and announce more things. Everything is a little up in the air.”
While the break has been an inconvenience for clubs at both ends of the table given the enforced break, it was probably something of a blessing for Watford.
They had been in terrible form up until the suspension, managing just one win in their last six games, an impressive 3-0 defeat of Liverpool, losing four of those fixtures.
It’s been a difficult campaign for them, with the club fighting against relegation and going through two managers already.
They are currently on their third, Nigel Pearson, but Femenía has nothing but positive things to say about him and thinks they can pull away in the season finale.
“The month of December was a good one for us and helped up to move out of the relegation zone a little.”
“We recovered, picked up four or five victories and improved defensively as well. The manager that arrived he gave us another mentality and confidence.
“It will be a little difficult for us, but we are better prepared, and we’re going to pick up results.”
Femenía has once again found himself as a regular for Watford this season, making 20 appearances in all competitions so far.
He has, however, found playing time harder to come by since the beginning of January, starting just one of the Hornets eight league games in that time.
He’s missed out on the squad in six of those games, and was also left out of both games in the FA Cup against Tranmere Rovers.
That is obviously disappointing for him having been a regular earlier in the campaign, but he says he’s just focusing on being ready to prove his worth.
“At the end of the day I have always prepared myself, I am a boy who likes to work,” he added.
“If I’m not getting games, that’s the manager’s decision, but I want to be prepared so that when they give me the opportunity, I can demonstrate I should be in the starting eleven.
“In my three years here I’ve had the opportunity and the luck to be a regular in the team. I have felt very wanted and happy, that is important for a player.”
