Reports suggest that the majority of Premier League teams want to continue playing and complete their festive fixture-list despite rise in covid-cases at clubs due to the new Omicron variant.
Premier league executives held a virtual meeting via zoom on Monday afternoon to discuss wether the season should continue following six out of the ten fixtures at the weekend being postponed due to the rising number of positive cases.
Some clubs including Liverpool, who’s manager Jurgen Klopp is one of the most vocal managers with regards to the current situation, wished to cancel one round of fixtures to enable clubs time to deal with their own issues before facing another festive fixture in the coming days.
However, this was deemed to risky by the PL executives, who claim that cancelling one round of fixtures could just make the situation worse.
None of the options were discussed or voted on by the 20 clubs in the league and final the decisions falls on the Premier League itself.
It seems that fixtures will continue wherever possible and the league will deal with covid issues on a game-to-game basis, a procedure followed in recent weeks.
However, this way of doing things is controversial and has led to a number of late postponements that have severely affected supports around the country. Supporters have travelled hundreds of miles to watch their team only for games to be cancelled just a couple of hours before kick-off.
The PL say the health and well-being of all clubs, players, backroom staff, officials and fans are priority and they will continue to monitor the situation.
While the league recognises a number of clubs are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, it is set to continue its current fixture schedule where safely possible as teams are in the middle of a packed Christmas schedule.
The rise in injuries as a result of the compact fixture list has been a contentious issue for a number of years now, with several managers like Pep Guardiola arguing that players safety has been overlooked.
However, with the rising number of cases alongside the normal injury problems faced, the Premier League face an unprecedented predicament yet again.
The table makes interesting viewing as teams have played an unequal number of games, with some having three matches in hand on their rivals – the Premier League will have to schedule in the six games that were postponed at the weekend, as half of the league were out of action.
For fans, the current situation is a difficult one.
Postponement of gameweek 20 had been expected but clubs have been advised if they have 13 fit players plus an available goalkeeper they should fulfil their fixtures.
More to follow…