Premier League: Will there be top-flight football this weekend as COVID outbreaks emerge?

Following the most recent midweek matches that have been postponed, the Premier League board have announced that another four games from Matchday 18 this weekend will also not take place, with rescheduling dates to be confirmed later.

In the Premier League’s statement, they have ensured they are assessing each club’s individual situation and if the game can be allowed to go on or not. They further remark that the Bees and the Hornets have been forced to close their training ground as they continuously suffer from outbreaks within the club.

With Watford, both Norwich City and Leicester City cannot field enough first-team players and therefore will not be able to field a team that is Premier League equipped — the latter was forced to close their training facilities as well — to help combat the COVID crisis.

The PL heads will be doing, and have been doing, “case-by-case” assessments to evaluate the situation at a specific club.

Premier League matches postponed

Brentford vs Manchenester United
Brighton vs Tottenham
Brighton vs  Chelsea
Burnley vs  Tottenham
Burnley vs  Watford
Chelsea vs  Arsenal
Everton vs  Leicester City
Leicester City vs Tottenham
Manchester United vs Brighton
Southampton vs  Brentford
Watford vs Crystal Palace
West Ham United vs  Norwich City

"Southampton v Brentford, Watford v Palace, West Ham v Norwich and Everton v Leicester all off due to COVID-19 outbreaks.Earlier today we announced that Manchester United’s fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday has also been called off.Brentford have an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. This has resulted in their training ground being closed which means they are unable to prepare for Saturday’s match.Watford also continue to have an ongoing outbreak, resulting in their training ground being closed, and have an insufficient number of players available to fulfil their match.Norwich City have an insufficient number of players available to fulfil their match due to COVID-19, injuries and other illnesses.Leicester City have a COVID-19 outbreak within the squad which has left the club with an insufficient number of players available to fulfil the match. The club’s first-team training ground was closed this morning to help contain the outbreak. (Via: premierleague.com)"

Like it has been going in England’s top-flight so has it been for those battling it out in the EFL Championship; they will be taking stricter measures to ensure they can go on with the game of football.

Games still taking place: Premier League Matchday 18

Saturday 18 December

Aston Villa vs Burnley  Villa
Leeds vs Arsenal

Sunday 19 December

Wolves vs Chelsea
Newcastle United vs Man City
Tottenham vs Liverpool

To date, the Premier League have been forced to reschedule 12 games, which include the latest five from the weekend coming — two of those games have date changes due to Chelsea’s involvement in the Club World Cup happening in February.

It is too early to tell if the rest of the fixtures will go on as planned. There are five fixtures left and at the rate the COVID episodes have occurred at respective clubs, we could see the entire Matchday 18  and more of the Premier League cancelled until further notice.

The teams who have missed the most from postponements: Brighton and Tottenham, who have had three games suspended apiece. They are followed by six teams who already have to play catchup with two games in hand.