The
Premier League has decided against postponing a full round of fixtures amid
Covid-19 outbreaks at several clubs.
Six of this weekend's 10 Premier League matches were postponed on Thursday,
but the league had maintained fixtures would continue "where safely
possible".
After a Premier League shareholders' meeting on Monday, the league has
decided to continue as planned with the schedule, where possible.
The FA is also considering scrapping third and fourth-round FA Cup replays
this season to help reduce fixture congestion.
Some Premier League sides felt they should carry on playing where possible
because there is no guarantee the situation will improve if they stop, while
others felt the integrity of the competition is being threatened and
believed the next round of games should have been called off.
Most Premier League clubs are due to play three times between Boxing Day and
January 2 and, despite the decision to continue as planned, there are fears
more games will be postponed because of rising Covid cases.
There would then be an increased workload on players who are available to
play in games that go ahead, and there is also a real fear among clubs they
will soon have to go back to playing games without fans.
Jurgen Klopp says unvaccinated players are a 'constant threat' and explains
what impact they have on how a club needs to operate
The timing of decisions to call off some games so far has caused
frustration, with Aston Villa's clash with Burnley called off just over two
hours before kick-off on Saturday.
Chelsea were unhappy a request to postpone Sunday's Premier League match at
Wolves, which ended 0-0, was rejected despite their seven positive cases.
Boss Thomas Tuchel said: "We were put in a huge risk of health and safety to
the players, not just because of Covid but also physically. I'm not sure if
I'll catch Covid. Hopefully, I will not catch it."
Meanwhile, the EFL, which has also been hit by a raft of postponements, says
it is maintaining constant open dialogue with all clubs over the situation.
The league is also planning for all four Carabao Cup quarter-final ties to
go ahead this week.
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