As revealed by Simon Stone of BBC Sport, Liverpool v Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers v Watford have been called off due to Covid-19 related issues. The Premier League released a statement regarding Watford and their availability, saying: “Due to players coming out of isolation, it is fully expected @WatfordFC will be available for their fixture on Tuesday 28 December, against West Ham United.”
We are yet to hear whether Liverpool or Leeds will be available for their respective games following Boxing Day. What we do know, however, is that the game was called off due to cases within the Leeds squad, and not within the Liverpool squad. With that said, it looks likely that Liverpool’s game against Leicester City on 28 December will go ahead as planned.
Leeds’ game on 28 December against Aston Villa, meanwhile, remains in doubt.
Liverpool v Leeds United and Wolves v Watford Postponed Due to Covid-19
First of Many?
Despite the Premier League’s plan to go ahead with all of the festive fixtures as planned, their hand may be forced regarding a number of fixtures. It is clear that Covid-19 is far from under control in England’s top flight, and something needs to be done. What that something is, however, remains to be seen. Right now, the postponements look likely to cause a major scheduling and, therefore, fixture congestion issue.
The idea of a circuit break has already been swiftly denied in the Premier League, but perhaps is wasn’t such an outlandish idea considering the number of games failing to go ahead anyway. A circuit break would have allowed teams to get back to full strength and wait out any remaining Covid-19 cases within their squads. Once all cases were cleared, teams could have gone ahead as planned, knowing that positive cases are increasingly unlikely.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
