We are all loving watching Arsenal climb up the League and now we are up in the Top Four, we would love to keep our impetus going with a win at Leeds coming up on Saturday evening.
But the dreaded Covid virus has come back with a bang and the UK is now posting record numbers of infections every day at the moment, and new restrictions don’t seem to be holding back the tide, especially with the new highly transmissible OMICRON variant spreading like wildfire.
In midweek, we had one EPL game on each day postponed, but other games were played with many players stuck in isolation. Chelsea played on last night just hours after announcing another three players were out, Liverpool were missing many top players, and even Arsenal suffered an outbreak this week but luckily no first team players have been affected yet.
Already 5 of this weekends matches have been postponed by Covid, half of the 10 scheduled games, and yet more may follow. The EPL have brought in the Covid passport conditions at last, but surely fans would be wary of joining big crowds and risk being isolated over the Xmas celebrations? I know I would.
The League table is becoming unbalanced with Tottenham already having 3 games to be replayed. The Brentford manager Thomas Frank, whose side have had matches with Manchester United and Southampton postponed, thinks it is now time to stand back and get things back under control before continuing with the schedule. Frank said: “We think we should postpone the full round of Premier League games this weekend.
“Covid cases are going through the roof at all Premier League clubs, everyone is dealing with it and having problems.”
The Newcastle manager Eddie Howe agrees that things are getting out of hand: “I don’t think we want half the games played and half not played.
“I think a decision needs to be made for the benefit of the league to make sure there is integrity through the competition.”
Of course the Premier League are not going to want any more games postponed, and released a statement that read: “While recognising a number of clubs are experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks, it is the league’s intention to continue its current fixture schedule where safely possible. The health and wellbeing of all concerned remains our priority.”
I think I will take that statement with a pinch of salt as we all know that the TV money will be high in their thoughts at this time, but if “health and wellbeing” were top of the agenda, then they would at least play the games behind closed doors if they won’t cancel them completely….