Premier League insists there are no plans to pause season despite Covid-19 outbreak

The Premier League has also denied any discussions have taken place to pause the season

Jack Rathborn
Wednesday 30 December 2020 21:30 GMT
Comments
(Getty Images)
Leer en Español

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Premier League has denied any discussions have taken place to pause the season and maintains there are no plans to do so.

The statement comes after Tottenham vs Fulham was postponed hours before the scheduled kick-off, following the postponement of Everton vs Manchester City on Tuesday.

The Premier League announced on Tuesday that they recorded 18 positive tests last week - the most since the pandemic began - with Fulham, City, Arsenal and Sheffield United all confirming positive cases over the last week.

A statement read: “The Premier League has not discussed pausing the season and has no plans to do so.

“The League continues to have confidence in its COVID-19 protocols to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled, and these protocols continue to have the full backing of Government.

READ MORE: Will the Premier League pause, how will the fixture calendar cope and what if things get worse?

“With the health of players and staff the priority, the League is also fully supportive of how clubs are implementing the protocols and rules.”

Spurs confirmed that the Premier League informed them of the decision to postpone their game with Fulham on Wednesday afternoon, with Jose Mourinho bemoaning the lack of communication on social media.

The Premier League confirmed: “Fulham lodged a request with the Premier League Board to rearrange the fixture following a significant rise in positive Covid-19 cases, as well as a number of players showing symptoms today. The Premier League Board has consulted its medical advisors and the decision to postpone the game has been taken as a precaution and with the health of players and staff as the priority.

“The group will now be retested immediately. With low numbers of positive tests across the overwhelming majority of clubs, the Premier League continues to have full confidence in its Covid-19 protocols and being able to continue to play our fixtures as scheduled.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in