Which games have been called off?
Manchester United made a request to the Premier League to postpone the fixture after being forced to close first-team operations at their training ground on December 13.
What are the rules of the Premier League? The 2021/22 Premier League manual includes the Covid protocol, which states that the Premier League Board of Directors “allows reorganization or postponement of league games only in exceptional circumstances.”
The Board calls on a case-by-case basis and, as a guideline, states that the Premier League will not approve schedule changes if there are 14 or more players on the club’s team list. How many
positive tests are there? The week of December 6th to 12th was the most positive test in the Premier League, with 42 tests compared to 12 in the previous week (November 29th to December 5th).
It was also the highest number per week since the test results were announced in May last year.
From December 6th to December 12th, most tests were run at 3,805 this season.
August 2 to August 8 – 3,118 tested; 9 positive
August 9 to August 15 – 3,231 tests; 11 positive
August 16 to August 22 – 3,060 tests; 16 positive
August 23 to August 29 – 3,020 tests; six positive
August 30 to September 5 – 1,952 tests; two positive
September 6 to September 12 – 3,039 tests; three positive
September 13 to September 19 – 3,154 tests; two positive
September 20 to September 26 – 3,010 tests; one positive
September 27 to October 3 – 2,927 tests; four positive
October 4 to October 10 – 1,696 tests; zero positive
October 11 to October 17 – 3,044 tests; six positive
October 18 to October 24 – 3,209 tests; four positive
October 25 to October 31 – 3,006 tests; four positive
November 1 to November 7 – 2,953 tests; three positive
November 8 to November 14 – 1,647 tests; four positive
November 15 to November 21 – 3,188 tests; six positive
November 22 to November 28 – 3,379 tests; seven positive
November 29 to December 5 – 3,154 tests; 12 positive
December 6 to December 12 – 3,805 tests; 42 positive
What else do we know?
A record-high 42 cases puts the Premier League in a precarious position heading into a busy period of fixtures. The Daily Mail report clubs are fearful of mass postponements, with four rounds of fixtures scheduled between now and the end of December.
Unsurprisingly, the Premier League have written to clubs telling them “emergency measures” have been reinstated, this includes:
- An increase in the frequency of testing players and staff
- Wearing face coverings while indoors
- Observing social distancing
- Limiting treatment time
Back in October, the Premier League revealed 69 per cent of players had been fully vaccinated, with 81 per cent receiving their first dose
