It’s set to be a case of a New Year, but the same Covid chaos in the Football League with a mounting number of fixtures being postponed.
On Boxing Day, in the top four flights there were a total of 25 games called off – and that doesn’t include games from those sides who had requests not to play rejected.
Both the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) have reiterated their desire to continue the schedule unabated and have effectively ruled out a “firebreak”.
However, there are already six games that will not go ahead as planned on New Year’s Day, with another two postponements across 2-3 January.
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There are still plenty of games being affected beforehand, though, with Swansea’s Championship clash against Fulham on 3 January the latest. The Swans confirmed there were “a considerable number of positive Covid-19 cases within the playing squad.”
In a statement, Swansea added: “The club has worked hard to try and ensure it would be able to fulfil the fixture, however, the amount of positive cases means the club do not have a sufficient amount of players available for selection.”
Fleetwood are among the worst-hit clubs after they were unable to field a team for two successive matches against Wigan and Sunderland.
As it stands, one Premier League match over the New Year round of fixtures has been postponed, with Leicester confirming their clash with Norwich has been chalked off the weekend schedule.
“The Premier League Board confirmed the decision after meeting on Thursday 30 December, with the fixture, which was due to get underway at 3pm on Saturday, now to be rearranged after Norwich City confirmed it has an insufficient number of First Team players available to fulfil the match,” Leicester said in a statement.
i understands that Newcastle’s match against Southampton could also be pushed back.
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That has also led to a huge discrepancy between the number of games played by each team. Manchester City and Chelsea have both played 20, while ahead of their Thursday night game against Manchester United, Burnley had completed just 15 fixtures – with the Clarets also having their home game against Spurs abandoned before kick-off due to snow.
Here are all the games postponed so far across the New Year period.
Premier League
1 January – Leicester vs Norwich
Championship
1 January – Coventry City vs Luton Town
3 January – Swansea City vs Fulham
League One
1 January – Ipswich Town vs Lincoln City
1 January – Plymouth Argyle vs AFC Wimbledon
1 January – Wigan Athletic vs Accrington Stanley
2 January – Sunderland vs Fleetwood
League Two
1 January – Rochdale vs Mansfield Town
1 January Salford City vs Tranmere Rovers
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3EI93Nx
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