Fulham's trip to Spurs postponed due to COVID-19, but EPL vows to play on
Tottenham Hotspur's home match against Fulham on Wednesday has been postponed after the visiting team reported "a significant rise in positive COVID-19 cases" to the Premier League and "a number" of players with symptoms.
It's the third Premier League game to be postponed in December because of a coronavirus outbreak. Newcastle United were rocked by numerous cases earlier in the month, resulting in the postponement of a meeting with Aston Villa, and Manchester City's trip to Everton on Monday was called off after the former returned numerous positive results.
On Tuesday, the EPL reported 18 positive results from 1,479 tests on players and club staff from Dec. 21-27. It was the competition's highest number of COVID-19 cases recorded in a single week since testing began.
"The Premier League continues to have full confidence in its COVID-19 protocols and being able to continue to play our fixtures as scheduled," the league said in a statement.
English football has been hit by outbreaks further down the professional pyramid. More than 40 matches have been postponed in the Championship, League One, and League Two over coronavirus-related issues in the last month, including nine on Tuesday alone.
Unlike the Premier League, the English Football League does not conduct regular coronavirus checks.
New West Bromwich Albion manager Sam Allardyce called on Tuesday for a pause in the Premier League season while the United Kingdom deals with a new variant of the virus.
"Everyone's safety is more important than anything," Allardyce said. "When I hear (the) variant virus transmits 70% quicker, we can only do the right thing, which would be to have a circuit-breaker.
"I'm 66 and the last thing I need to do is catch COVID," he continued. "Probably players will overcome it but it's more difficult for someone like me, so I'm very concerned for myself and football in general. We had one positive this week, it seems to be creeping around no matter how hard we try.
"If (a circuit breaker) helps, let's do it and let the season run a little longer when we get through it."