Calls For Premier League ‘Circuit Break’ Amid Rising Covid-19 Cases
It’s a season that’s so far delivered one of the more intriguing title races — just six points separate the top nine teams — but with the UK grappling with a significant spike in Covid-19 cases, the English Premier League is facing a major challenge in how it navigates the remainder of the 2020/2021 campaign.
On Tuesday, the Premier League announced 18 new positive Covid-19 tests among players and club staff in its latest round of testing. That’s the highest number of positive tests recorded since the league began weekly testing at the start of the current season.
On Monday, the match between Everton and Manchester City was postponed because of a Covid-19 outbreak at the latter club which included positive tests for players Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker on Christmas Day.
Monday’s postponement was the second match to be have been affected by Covid-19 this season — Newcastle’s game at Aston Villa was also postponed after a number of players and staff at the north-east club returned positive test results.
According to a number of reports, Wednesday’s game between Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham is also in doubt. Fulham has recorded a number of positive tests at the club.
Fulham manager Scott Parker missed its previous game as he was self-isolating following a positive Covid-19 test in his household but announced he would return to the dugout for the Spurs game — if its goes ahead.
New West Bromwich Albion manager Sam Allardyce, who was appointed earlier in December, has called for a temporary halt to the Premier League season amid the rising number of positive test results.
“Everyone’s safety is more important than anything else. When I listen to the news the variant virus transmits quicker than the original … we can only do the right thing which is have a circuit break,” Allardyce told reporters after his side’s 5-0 defeat by Leeds United on Tuesday.
“I’m 66 and the last thing I want to do is catch COVID. I’m very concerned for myself and football … We had one positive this week and it seems to be creeping around no matter how hard we try.”
Meanwhile Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl had to stay in touch with his team from home via a video link for the goalless draw with West Ham on Tuesday after a member of his household tested positive for coronavirus.