adminLONDON. — Premier League clubs have rejected the idea of postponing Christmas matches, despite clubs struggling to fulfil their fixtures because of Covid.
Senior representatives of the top flight’s 20 clubs met with league officials yesterday to consider their latest response to the pandemic, which is now being fuelled by the ultra-infectious Omicron variant.
A short pause, dubbed a ‘festive fire-break, which would have involved postponing a round of fixtures from December 28 to 30, was one of the options under discussion.
The meeting was hastily arranged at the end of last week and came after six of the 10 Premier League fixtures this weekend were postponed following outbreaks for Covid. In total, 10 top-flight matches have been lost to the virus in a little more than a week.
However, despite some managers having spoken out in support of a break, the majority of club’s have backed the league position and rejected the idea, at least for now.
Sportsmail understands that the desire is to carry on and try to battle through without an enforced pause, while enhancing safety measures and incentivising vaccination among players with new measures.
A review will be carried out in two weeks.
However, the Premier League is mindful that whatever it decides may change, since the Cabinet is meeting next Monday to discuss whether further restrictions should be imposed due to the spread of Omicron.
League officials used the meeting to reinforce the rules around postponements. Clubs have complained after some games were called off while others had to go ahead.
The Premier League has made clear to clubs they will be expected to use eligible U21 players to make up the numbers where first-team regulars are ruled out through Covid, injury or illness and also stressed that officials may follow up and investigate.
In addition, the top flight has insisted that non-first-team matches, such as U23 games, should not be scheduled a short-time before a Premier League fixture to ensure the most players are available as possible.
Aston Villa’s U23 side played last Friday night ahead of the Villans’ home game against Burnley, which was postponed only a few hours before kick off last Saturday, following a Covid outbreak. Now, the league has said even in those circumstances an eligible U21 player would be considered available. At the meeting, clubs were reassured that in order to avoid a fixture pile-up, the FA would scrap replays for FA Cup rounds three and four. For a break to come into force it would have needed the support of at least 14 of the 20 top flight sides. — Mailonline.
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