Coronavirus opaca ‘Boxing Day’ de la Premier League

Traditionally one of the most important days in the Premier League English, the Boxing Day it won’t be so festive this yearas Great Britain and Premier League clubs face a exponential number of cases of the omicron variant; three games scheduled for Sunday were postponed.

If last year a large part of the English fans had to follow home games due to closed doors, this season it is the players who do not come to the call.

About a hundred positive cases within the squads and technical bodies of the clubs of elite were registered last week, while the United Kingdom suffers a record number of COVID-19 infections (122,000 cases in 24 hours).

In total thirteen games have been postponed in recent weeks, three of them corresponding to the day of Boxing Day (19.ª fecha): Liverpool-Leeds, Wolverhampton-Watford y Burnley-Everton.

¿How to place late games in an already dense schedule, with matches every day until January 3 with the exception of December 31?

On Thursday different conversations took place by videoconference between the Premier League, the coaches of the clubs and the players.

But given how much at stake both sporting and economically around the Boxing Day no temporary suspension of the championship was decided. No more than a return to closed doors or limited capacity as is the case in Wales or Scotland.

“There is a wall in front, you can speak or ask for whatever you want, but all the decisions were already made“Lamented the Tottenham coach Antonio Conte, whose team, particularly affected by the covid, has three games behind.

Along with his Liverpool counterpart Jürgen Klopp, both advocated the reduction to one match of the semi-final round-trip of the League Cup Chelsea-Tottenham and Arsenal-Liverpool scheduled for early January, as had been the case last year because of the pandemic.

Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick even claimed a suspension outright from racing. His team, sixth in the Premier, has suffered several postponements and has not played since December 11.

Now a succession of parties without solution of continuity, starting with his visit to Newcastle on Monday, penultimate in the table.

Belgium prohibits sports competitions with the public due to the omicron variant

The líder Manchester City, who comes from walking against the Magpies (4-0), and endorsing Leeds 7-0, receives Leicester (9th) on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola’s pupils have three points more than Liverpool, who saw their game against Leeds postponed.

And four days after qualifying for the League Cup semi-finals, Chelsea (3rd), Arsenal (4th) and Tottenham (7th) will play all three on Sunday.

The Blues visit Aston Villa (10th), while the Gunners have ‘a priori’ a more affordable trip against bottom Norwich. Tottenham (7th) host their neighbors from Crystal Palace (11th).

So that we will have to wait until the beginning of 2022 to see substantial matches, like Arsenal-Manchester City, on January 1 and Chelsea-Liverpool a day later.

And that’s if COVID-19 doesn’t disrupt the holidays even more. (D)