Premier League clubs decide to continue playing despite rise in COVID-19 cases

A Premier League shareholders' meeting was held on Monday where the league discussed a potential postponement of a round of fixtures during the hectic schedule between Boxing Day and New Year. The league ultimately decided to continue as planned with the schedule whenever possible while it was later revealed that a record-high 90 positive Covid cases had been recorded among league players and staff in the past week.

The Football Association (FA) has also made the decision to scrap third and fourth-round FA Cup replays this season to reduce fixture congestion. The Premier League also confirmed that 92 percent of the players and club staff have received one, two or three Covid vaccination doses. A total of 77 percent of Premier League players have received two doses which are labelled as fully vaccinated, an increase from the 68 percent figure that was released in October.

The majority of the clubs favoured the option to carry on playing where it was safe to do so while a few clubs including Liverpool wanted to postpone the whole round of upcoming Sun-Mon fixtures or next week's Tues-Thurs fixtures. 

"It was confirmed at a Premier League club meeting today that while recognising a number of clubs are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks and challenges, it is the League’s collective intention to continue the current fixture schedule where safely possible. The health and wellbeing of all concerned remains our priority and the League will continue to monitor and reflect public health guidance, always proceeding with caution," the Premier League said in a statement.