The game between Manchester United and Brentford on Tuesday night is in doubt due to a Covid outbreak in Manchester.
Following a 1 – 0 win over Norwich on Saturday, Manchester United had a clean bill of health. However, a number of positive lateral flow tests were returned on Sunday. Reportedly, up to 19 positive Covid cases have been detected amongst players and staff.
Last week, Tottenham reported eight positive cases to the Premier League. As a result their game against Brighton as well as the ECL game against Rennes were called off.
It would follow that Manchester United against Brentford will also be canceled. However, it is yet unclear what the league will decide.
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The Premier League need to clarify their position on Covid cancellations, and quickly. There is currently no policy on what the threshold of positive cases is before a game will be called off.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was asked if the Premier League ought to implement such a policy. Arsenal, of course, had a Covid outbreak before the first game of the season. They had to field a weakened team against Brentford and lost 2 – 0.
‘That would be helpful, yes,’ was Arteta’s prickly response. It is in the interest of fairness that the Premier League set a policy in stone. Particularly now with the Omicron variant and the fact that the schedule is approaching its most condensed point.
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Tottenham and Manchester United are only the beginning of this phase of Covid outbreaks in English football. Expect every team to report positive cases in the coming weeks. There has to be consistency in which games go ahead and which don’t, or else sporting integrity will be compromised.
