The record number of infections is causing great unrest in the organization of the Premier League, English media know. In the past week, 42 corona cases have been identified within the competition, it was announced on Monday morning. The Premier League fears that many matches will have to be canceled in the extremely busy month of December, or that it will even come to a total shutdown. Brighton & Hove Albion – Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford – Manchester United have already been postponed.
In England, the omicron variant of the coronavirus is on the rise. Tottenham was the first English club to suffer from a major corona outbreak at the beginning of this month, but there are now positive cases at five different clubs. Brentford was therefore unable to play against Manchester United, while Brighton is dealing with ten corona cases within the staff. Leicester City also has corona problems, but played anyway. Aston Villa canceled training this week as a precaution.
December is the most important month for the Premier League commercially. Traditionally, it is also the busiest month: clubs play a league match every three to four matches. A series of postponed matches would be very bad for the English league. A complete shutdown, which is now also feared, would be an unmitigated disaster.
Measures are now being taken to prevent this from happening. For example, the booster vaccination campaign is in full swing in the United Kingdom and the rules to enter the stadium are becoming stricter: fans are no longer allowed to enter without a vaccination or negative test. Players have been required to be tested three times a week since last Friday and the clubs are working to bring that to daily testing. Furthermore, outside the training field, players must also keep their distance from each other in, for example, the canteen and all festivities around Christmas are cancelled.