Glued to the telly: English soccer returns, a nation sighs

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — English soccer's longest suspension since World War II comes to an end Wednesday, bringing the country's favorite sport back to a nation that has struggled to protect its citizens during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Premier League, the richest soccer league in the world with massive worldwide viewership, was suspended on March 13 after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tested positive. The virus had been rapidly spreading from Italy and Spain to the rest of Europe but it took soccer authorities to halt play, a move that has been credited with saving lives by keeping tens of thousands of fans in England from being infected at stadiums as they raucously supported their teams.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government has faced widespread criticism for not ordering a nationwide lockdown until March 23 and not supplying health care workers with enough protective equipment. Johnson himself fell seriously ill with the virus.

Health experts say if the government had just shut down the country one week earlier, Britain could have cut its virus-related death toll of over 42,000 in half. The death toll is the highest in Europe.

“I thought about the night I started to have some symptoms, how serious that was," Arteta said in a pre-match virtual news conference. "It had to be reported because I could put at risk a lot of people.”

Britain has eased its lockdown despite still seeing more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases and hundreds of deaths each week. So after months of planning, the Premier League is getting back on the field — even though they will be playing in empty stadiums, just like Germany's Bundesliga, which returned last month.

The first Premier League match in more than three months will be between Birmingham club Aston Villa and Sheffield United on Wednesday, followed by...