Having seen a notable spike in coronavirus cases over the last two weeks, Leicester has been put under the UK’s first full local lockdown.
Where pubs, cinemas and restaurants will start to re-open across the rest of England this weekend, Leicester will remain under tight restrictions. Non-essential shops have already shut and schools are set to close for most pupils on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Leicester City are meant to host Crystal Palace at the King Power Stadium on Saturday. While every Premier League game has been able to go ahead as scheduled since the restart earlier this month, that could feasibly be about to change.
Asked about how the local lockdown could affect his team after their FA Cup defeat to Chelsea on Sunday, Brendan Rodgers said: “Nothing has changed in terms of how we have been working thus far in this situation, but I’ve always said we will react accordingly.
“We have to have agility in this period… we will just keep working until we are told otherwise.”
While Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that the game against Palace will go ahead, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has left open the possibility of a postponement.
There is also the option of playing the match at a neutral venue. Asked how he would feel about the game being moved elsewhere, Palace boss Roy Hodgson said: “I am perfectly happy to let the Premier League take care of that. I am certain they will tell us where and when the game should be played.
“I am certain if they can’t play at Leicester, they will find an alternative venue and we are happy to go up and play against Leicester City wherever the Premier League tells us to play.”
Contingency plans in place
Appearing in front of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee on Tuesday, Masters made it clear that the Premier League has a range of options were it deemed unsafe for Leicester to host games at the King Power.
“I would say just about every eventuality has been discussed by ourselves and DCMS officials at some point,” he said. “We have had huge discussions about the use of neutral venues.
“We are waiting to hear, but if what is happening in Leicester does affect their ability to host home games – either the match on Saturday against Crystal Palace at 3pm or subsequent matches – we have the opportunity to put them elsewhere or postpone the matches until it is safe to [play them]. Contingency plans are part of our overall planning.”
Leicester have three more home games this season, with the Palace match followed by fixtures against Sheffield United and Manchester United currently scheduled for 15 July and 26 July respectively.
Masters also confirmed that the season could still be cut short if there are further spikes in the infection rate. “There’s always that possibility, yes,” he said. “We’re dependent on the course of the virus and the government’s decisions in response to that.”
Cautious optimism
With most clubs, including Leicester, facing seven more games before the end of the season, there is still a long way to go before the campaign is concluded successfully.
“Obviously we’re cautiously optimistic and what’s happened in Leicester overnight is something we’re responding to now,” said Masters.
“We’ve been planning for quite a long period of time to adapt to a neutral venues model if necessary for a variety of different reasons. I think we can clearly cope with the situation in Leicester.
“If it means the club can’t play its home games for the foreseeable future or just this weekend, we can adapt to that.
“But if that were to happen in multiple areas, or the course of the virus creates other risks, then obviously there’s that risk that we can’t complete the season.”
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