Premier League

WATFORD, England — Watford's Craig Dawson grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser with an overhead kick to earn his side a 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Saturday and a vital point in their battle for Premier League survival.

England full back Ben Chilwell had put third-placed Leicester ahead in the 90th minute with a thunderous shot, before Dawson's acrobatic finish lifted Watford provisionally a point clear of the relegation zone.

CHILWELL!

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuettl spent the COVID-19 lockdown period putting the finishing touches to a masterpiece he hopes will turbo-charge the pipeline from the Premier League club's vaunted youth academy to the first team.

The flow of talent from the academy is noteworthy. Saints have unearthed and developed stars including Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and their new skipper James Ward-Prowse.

But the supply has slowed in recent years, and Hasenhuettl is banking on his “SFC Playbook” reversing that trend.

Amazon announced that it will air the rest of its Premier League matches for free on Amazon Prime while live streaming them on Twitch. No membership will be required to watch the four matches shown by Amazon.

One of the four matches has yet to be announced, but the other three include Crystal Palace vs. Burnley on June 29, Everton vs. Southampton on July 6 and Watford vs. Newcastle on July 11.

Tottenham striker Harry Kane will start in Friday's Premier League clash at home to Manchester United after a six-month absence, according to manager Jose Mourinho.

Son Heung-min and Moussa Sissoko, who like Kane were ruled out by serious injuries when the Premier League was suspended three months ago, are also set to face United.

The news is a big boost to Tottenham as they try to revive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, having slipped to eighth in the standings, four points behind fifth-placed United and seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

The Premier League returned Wednesday after a 100-day hiatus like it had just left its keys, wallet and cell phone. Nothing has changed: Aston Villa vs. Sheffield United featured a heinously controversial abuse of technology, and Manchester City vs. Arsenal continued the ballad of David Luiz. 

If it was sporting controversy you missed, the Premier League restarted Wednesday in a big way. Relegation-threatened Aston Villa hosted European-hopeful Sheffield United at an empty Villa Park, and things descended into chaos shortly before halftime.

Sheffield should’ve opened the scoring in the 42nd minute with a free kick that ended up in the back of Villa’s net, but that’s apparently not the definition of a goal anymore in our new normal.

Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin has said he will ensure 3,000 trees are planted for every victory by his team over the rest of the season to highlight the need to tackle climate change.

"For every game we win this season I will plant 3,000 trees to help combat the carbon emissions issues we have," the Spain international said on Twitter.

Aston Villa and Sheffield United re-started the Premier League on Wednesday after a 100-day hiatus caused by the COVID-19 health crisis with a strong statement of support for the worldwide protests against racism.

All the players' names on the back of their shirts were replaced with the words “Black Lives Matter” as the Premier League formally joined the international protest campaign sparked by the death of George Floyd in America.

With soccer being an obvious contact sport, the possibility of social distancing in matches is in question. To put those nagging questions to rest, the Premier League posted the safety measures for its behind-closed-doors matches.

The key takeaways: