Premier League clubs to fulfil fixture list amid record positive Covid-19 results
Premier League and EFL clubs have chosen to fulfil festive fixtures despite ongoing Covid-19 disruption.
The decision comes despite Premier League players and club staff returning a record 90 positive tests last week.
The Premier League’s 20 clubs met on Monday to discuss the fixture list after six weekend games were postponed.
No vote took place and so two rounds of fixtures are in place across five days from 26 December, while the EFL will play games “where it is safe to do so”.
It had been expected that the Premier League’s gameweek 20, starting on 28 December, would be postponed in order to ease the pressure on Premier League squads.
It is understood that one discussion point at the meeting was for each club to play two fixtures over the festive period across three gameweeks, meaning no individual gameweek would have been fully postponed.
Instead, clubs have been advised if they have 13 fit players, plus a goalkeeper, they should fulfil their games.
FA Cup replays in rounds three and four have however been scrapped and talks are ongoing on whether to reduce EFL Cup semi-final ties to one-leg matches.
Shortly after the meeting, the Premier League confirmed there had been 90 new positive cases from 12,345 tests on players and staff between 13 and 19 December. The figure was more than double last week’s 42 cases, which was a record since the pandemic began.
Source: BBC
