Premier League says it has 'no plans' to pause the season amid Covid-19 outbreaks
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Updated 30/12/2020 at 22:10 GMT
Despite calls for a pause to the Premier League season due to an increase in Covid-19 cases across the UK, the league says it will continue as planned. Everton vs Manchester City and Tottenham vs Fulham have both been postponed this week while there were a record 18 positive results in the latest round of testing.
Tottenham vs Fulham was called off on Wednesday
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The Premier League says it has “no plans” to pause the season in the wake of two postponed games this week due to Covid-19 outbreaks.
Everton’s game against Manchester City on Monday and Tottenham’s clash with Fulham on Wednesday were both called off after several positive test results.
There were also a record 18 positive results in the latest round of Premier League testing while most of the UK has been moved into Tier 3 or Tier 4 restrictions as Covid-19 cases increase.
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The situation has led to calls for a circuit breaker to pause the season, with West Brom manager Sam Allardyce saying it would be the “right thing” to do.
However, the Premier League has said in a statement that will not happen.
“The Premier League has not discussed pausing the season and has no plans to do so. The league continues to have confidence in its Covid-19 protocols to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled, and these protocols continue to have the full backing of Government.
“With the health of players and staff the priority, the league is also fully supportive of how clubs are implementing the protocols and rules.”
Liverpool’s match at Newcastle on Wednesday evening was the last in the midweek round of matches before a new round of fixtures start on Friday with Everton vs West Ham and Manchester United vs Aston Villa.
A POTENTIAL SOLUTION TO THE COVID FIXTURE CRISIS?
In a season that has already been compacted and crammed, things could be about to get worse.
With over half of the season left to play and a finish date of May 23, just 19 days before rescheduled Euro 2020 kicks off, what do the recent postponements mean for teams and what could the solutions be? Would calling off the FA Cup be an option? Or should there be a 'circuit break' now?
CITY REPORT NO NEW POSITIVES AHEAD OF CHELSEA GAME
Manchester City have returned to training after testing revealed no new positives following the outbreak which postponed their match against Everton on Monday.
Five City players are currently isolating and while there will be more testing before Sunday's scheduled match against Chelsea, no fresh cases have been uncovered as yet.
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