In a game held in the Championship, Liverpool and Leeds were forced to postpone their match because of a court case involving Coventry City. In total 12 matches had been postponed because of these cases.
The “Premier league” was postponed because of Covid cases. The game between Liverpool and Leeds and Wolves v Watford.
Because of the coronavirus, the Premier League has postponed Liverpool’s match against Leeds United and Wolves’ match against Watford.
Both games were scheduled to begin at 12:30 GMT on Sunday, December 26 but were postponed due to requests from Leeds and Watford.
Leeds were unable to participate owing to a “number of players with Covid-19, injuries, and sickness,” according to the Premier League.
Everton manager Rafael Benitez was “surprised” that his team’s match against Burnley was still on.
The Toffees last played on December 16, drawing 1-1 with Chelsea, before their match against Leicester City on December 19 was postponed because to Covid-19 instances inside the Foxes camp.
Everton manager Rafael Benitez is “surprised” that the Burnley game will go place.
“After the game [against Chelsea], we discovered five positives,” Benitez stated. “With the injuries and positives we had, we expected the game to be postponed, as it has been in a number of games.”
“Now I have to figure out whether 11 players will fit and where they will be placed. I’m astonished we’re still playing this game.”
For the encounter, the Spaniard said he had nine fit outfield players, three goalkeepers, and five teenagers, and that he could be compelled to use striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has been out for four months due to injury.
“It’s a huge danger for the players and it’s not fair,” Benitez remarked.
A Covid-19 outbreak has forced Watford to postpone games against Burnley, Crystal Palace, and Wolves.
“Watford continue to have an inadequate number of players to field a team after their game against Crystal Palace was postponed last Saturday due to a Covid-19 outbreak,” the Premier League said in a statement.
“Watford are likely to be available for their match against West Ham United on Tuesday, December 28th, due to players coming out of isolation.”
Leeds said that there have been “five additional positive Covid-19 instances among the first-team players and staff,” and that their training facility has been shuttered.
“All of the instances we have encountered are asymptomatic,” the Elland Road club stated, “which we feel is owing to our high vaccination take-up.”
“Given the positive instances and our well-documented injury problems, we wouldn’t have enough recognized first-team players to fulfill the Premier League’s standards for the match.”
“On the advise of Public Health England, the training field at Thorp Arch will be closed for two days.”
Because of the two most recent postponements, a total of 12 top-flight games have been canceled due to an upsurge in coronavirus infections.
Despite a record 90 positive tests among top-flight players and staff in the most recent round of testing, Premier League clubs agreed on Monday not to make any modifications to the Christmas schedule.
Clubs were informed during the conference that if they had 13 fit players plus a goalie, they should complete their games.
Jordan Henderson, a Liverpool and England midfielder, told Sport he was “concerned” that “nobody really takes player welfare seriously” amid the spike in incidents.
Meanwhile, Premier League managers gathered on Thursday to address problems related to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Analysis
Simon Stone, a sports writer, says:
After meeting with the groups for the first time since the start of the season on Thursday, the Premier League promised to keep talking to their managers and leaders.
Although the club owners had previously opted to continue the season without a break earlier this week, it is known that well-publicized concerns over the fixture schedule were raised.
Several managers have openly indicated their wish to return to the five-substitute system, which was introduced in the top division as part of Project Restart but was subsequently abandoned after a vote of the clubs before to the 2020-21 season.
Since then, the issue has been addressed many times without reaching the requisite 14-club threshold for it to be approved. A proposal may be brought before a shareholders meeting by any club.
The next formal meeting isn’t set until February, but given the league’s instability, it’s very probable that talks between the teams will take place before then.
Two matches have already been rescheduled for Boxing Day, and the league expects more to be canceled since pre-game PCR testing and matchday lateral flow tests are still required.
While the Premier League has vowed to make early judgments on matches wherever feasible, given the timeframes involved, this will be very difficult in this situation.
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