The agency suspects that the teams have used the system to suspend matches at their convenience.
The suspicion that the teams have taken advantage of the protocols COVID-19 to suspend matches has fed up the Premier League, which is considering changing the requirements to request postponements from February.
Current rules dictate that for a game to be suspended, the team in question must have fewer than 13 outfield players and one goalkeeper. However, not all players who are not available have to be affected by covid, which has meant that many injured and players absent due to the Africa Cup of Nations have entered the list to ask for suspensions.
The complaints began when several EFL (English Football League) teams called for an investigation into the suspension of Liverpool-Arsenal, first leg of the League Cup semi-finals, due to false positives in the Anfield team. The EFL dismissed the protests, but coaches like Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel, asked if teams were taking advantage of the covid rules, said he hoped not and would be very angry if he found out this was true.
In total, 22 Premier League games have been suspended since the beginning of December due to the impact that the omicron variant has had in the United Kingdom. The introduction of a stricter protocol, with more tests, use of social distance and the mask, has managed to reduce infections, which reached a peak of more than 100 positives per week, for the third consecutive week. This, together with the relaxation of restrictions in England, where the mask will no longer be mandatory from January 27, has led the Premier to reconsider its suspension protocol.
Especially because there are 20 games left to ‘replace’ and because of the noise that has arisen around the meeting between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal that the Premier suspended last Sunday, despite the fact that the ‘Gunners’ only had one positive case in their squad, that of Martin Odegaard. Those of Mikel Arteta, who has already said that they will defend their honor in the face of the protests, had numerous casualties, including players in the Africa Cup, injured and sanctioned, so they did not reach the minimum number of players requested by the Premier.
Antonio Conte, coach of the ‘Spurs’, said he did not understand the reasons for the suspension of the match and considered it “a surprise”.
It is estimated that the new measures could come into force on February 8, that is, after the winter break of the competition (from February 23 to 7), although the type of rules that will be carried out have not yet been detailed.
What the Premier has agreed is that during this winter break no late matches will be played.
The team for these postponements has been Burnley, which is at the bottom with just 17 games played, five less than the leader, Manchester City, although one of the ‘Clarets’ suspended games was due to an intense snowfall on their ‘Turf’ field Moors’ in November.
Leicester City and Tottenham have played 18 matches, while Everton and Watford have played 19. (R)
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