1 Comment

PL may U-turn on postponements

The Premier League is set to consider changing rules on why they will postpone matches in the top-flight, per BBC Sport.

There have been a wave of postponements throughout the league, culminating in Arsenal requesting that their game against Spurs on Sunday be called off.

That came about as a result of a small number of COVID cases, with injuries and international call-ups to the African Cup of Nations also being cited as a reason for the game being postponed. Clubs need to have 13 first-team players available for a game to go ahead.

A total of 22 fixtures have been called off throughout the season, meaning that there is likely to be chaos at the end of the campaign  when it comes to fitting games in.

The Hammers, for example, have completed 22 of their fixtures this season; Spurs, Arsenal, and Manchester United all have games in hand on the Irons as they look to qualify for the Champions League.

The BBC reports that there will be discussions over amending rules but it is not clear exactly in which direction the league will go.

The two-week winter break, which is looming, will not be used for rearranged fixtures, it has already been confirmed.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

One comment on “PL may U-turn on postponements

  1. Teams should not have been allowed to include injuries, suspensions and International call-ups on top of Covid cases as reasons to postpone games. Would a team have been allowed to postpone a game previously if they had 10 players suspended, for example? No chance!
    The Premier League has made a rod for their own back by allowing non-Covid reasons to be factored in. If they change the rules now, teams who have not yet had the luxury of a postponement will cry foul. If they don’t, they leave the door open for more fixture abuse.
    Assuming youth players can be used, it surely can’t be that hard to gather 13 outfield players and a goalie together to fulfil a fixture?

Comments are closed.