The Premier League will continue to allow games to be played and will not change its rule on postponements despite record cases of Covid-19 in the league.
Current rules regarding the postponement of fixtures state that Premier League teams must have 13 senior outfield players (being anyone who has previously featured in a Premier League game) and a goalkeeper in order to fulfil a given fixture.
The decision to not change the rules a bit has come under extra scrutiny after yet another game was announced to be postponed, this time in the form of Newcastle United’s trip down to Southampton.
On this occasion it was deemed that Newcastle did not meet the requirements in order to fulfil the fixture, thus leading to the games postponement, much to the dismay of Southampton and others.
As reported by the Daily Mail, there were a record number of Covid-19 cases during the last week of testing within the league, with the number reaching over 100 for the first ever time.
Many managers and pundits, including Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl and regular Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, feel that the decision to take a clubs injuries into account when considering whether a game should be postponed is wrong, and that a distinction needs to be made when considering Covid-related absences or injury absences, as normal injuries do not warrant a game being postponed.