If the spectators are allowed in the stadiums, too many players are sick and two games Boxing Day have already been canceled.
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Omicron stronger than the Premier League? The traditional day of English football championship from December 26, the day of Boxing Day, very popular in the UK, is threatened by the pandemic Covid-19. Thursday, December 23, canceling two games has been announced: Liverpool-Leeds and Wolverhampton-Watford will not occur. Not that there are health restrictions – stadiums have the right to be full – but too many players are sick and should insulate
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The new Omicron variant is spreading fast in the UK. On Thursday, nearly 120 000 people have tested positive, a record since the beginning of the health crisis. Concerned, the representatives of the clubs and the Premier League gathered Monday planning to cancel all meetings Boxing Day. But tradition and big money have been stronger, and everything must proceed as planned.
Except that the reality in the locker room is complicated. Rafael Benitez, the Everton coach, can not believe that his match against Burnley is maintained, as he had requested the annulment: five of his players are positive, plus six injuries. “We follow all the rules, if he annoys. We make the antigen tests, PCR, we put the masks, three different changing rooms are used to limit the time players spend together …”
Discussion on the absence of winter break
It was not enough. In these conditions, he wonders how he will find eleven players available to field a competitive team on Sunday. “They are players who may have received a blow, but we must still push [to go play], or others who are not at their best,” he laments.
The pandemic relaunch an old debate on the lack of winter break in English football. If there is no match on the same day of Christmas since 1950, the rate during this period is hellish in the Premier League. Besides the games Boxing Day, a day of championship is organized between December 28 and 29, and a third the 1 st in January, another great appointment festive calendar of supporters.
Pep Guardiola, Manchester City coach did not hide his irritation: “We’ll have a players’ strike or that something is going on, otherwise nothing will change UEFA, FIFA, televisions. the Premier League … [for them], the business is more important than the health of players. “Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson made, too, expressed his discomfort, while his team has played five games in two weeks: “no one takes players’ health seriously.”