Premier League: Premier League to plow through festive schedule despite Covid surge | Football News – Times of India

Premier League Clubs have agreed to continue scheduled games throughout the festive period, although many fixtures have been postponed due to the boom. COVID-19 matters, the league announced on Monday after a meeting between all the teams.
Ten Premier League games have been postponed this month amid a hectic schedule, with teams set to play three times between Boxing Day and January 3.
Only four out of 10 matches were played this weekend when teams told the Premier League they were missing players due to Covid-19.
“With the COVID-19 outbreak and challenges facing many clubs, it is the league’s collective intention to safely continue the current sustainability programme,” the Premier League said.

“A number of issues were discussed at this afternoon’s meeting, including the adaptation of the Premier League’s COVID-19 postponement process in response to the impact of the Omicron edition.
“The league also confirmed to its clubs today that 92% of players and club staff have received one, two or three COVID-19 vaccination doses, with 84% of players on the vaccination journey.”
The Premier League grants a postponement only if a club has fewer than 14 players available, which the Board requests on a case-by-case basis.
FA Cup replay scraped
England’s Football Association (FA) said FA Cup replays in rounds three and four have been scrapped to help clean up the fixture backlog after several postponements.
“The third and fourth rounds of this season’s competition will be played on the day the tie ends with extra time and penalties,” the FA said.
However, the English Football League (EFL), which also organizes it league cup, said its fixtures would be played as per the schedule.
The League Cup semi-finals are played in January in two phases. The quarter-final matches of the competition – involving seven Premier League teams – are due to be played this week.
The EFL said, “While the league acknowledges that future postponements will likely be needed to navigate where COVID-19 cases are identified, there is optimism that the implementation of the Red Protocol, a daily testing regime and ongoing vaccinations Disruption can be minimized after the rollout.”
EFL Chief Executive Trevor Birch said: “We will continue to work with clubs, officials and other agencies to monitor the COVID-19 case rate and be prepared to respond accordingly.
“For now the idea remains that we can continue to deliver games safely where clubs have enough healthy personnel on and off the pitch.”
The EFL had 19 games in its divisions, which were postponed last weekend due to the outbreak of COVID-19.