Mark Douglas has shared some enticing insight into the Premier League and what they may do with Newcastle United's anti-competition case.

The Lowdown: Ashley against the Premier League

Mike Ashley has launched an anti-competition lawsuit against the top flight with regards to their decision-making process in the failed takeover at St. James' Park by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium.

This is a separate case to arbitration, which is set to take place between the two parties in July.

If the North East club are successful in the arbitration hearing, then the anti-competition lawsuit would no longer need to be launched, but it does provide a safety blanket for Ashley if the results do not go his way.

The Latest: Premier League insight

Writing in his latest piece for The Chronicle, Douglas has shared that it is expected that the division will apply to have the anti-competition case either thrown out or delayed, because it duplicates a lot of aspects of the separate arbitration claim.

The journalist also adds that they now have less than a week to respond to the anti-competition claim, which is seen as an explicit pressure tactic by the chief executive of Sports Direct in order to push the PL into a compromise on the takeover bid.

The Verdict: Anti-competition a nice safety blanket

If the results of the arbitration case do not go in the favour of the Tyneside club, then the separate anti-competition lawsuit is certainly a nice card to have up Ashley's sleeve, and would still give him hope of a sale.

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However, the ideal scenario for the businessman would surely be that he wins the arbitration hearing, and so the anti-competition claim would no longer be needed.

Nonetheless, arbitration will paint a much clearer picture over the direction of where the takeover is heading, and a positive result for the Magpies would surely bring its potential revival one step closer.

In other news, find out what insight Mark Douglas has dropped from sources close to the potential takeover here!