Premier League clubs record EIGHTEEN new Covid positive cases

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The Premier League has announced 18 new positive Covid-19 tests among players and staff, the highest weekly total since Project Restart. 

The latest round of testing saw 1,479 players and staff tested and the results show a sharp increase on last week’s total a day after Manchester City‘s trip to face Everton at Goodison Park was postponed due to an outbreak in City’s squad over the Christmas period. 

Positive tests reported by City on Monday will not have been included in the latest results and so 13 cases have emerged at other clubs.   

The increase in positive tests come as experts called for a postponement of all football to be seriously considered. 

Rochdale team doctor Wesley Tensel believes serious consideration must be given to stopping the current campaign. 

‘These players are put under pressure to come out and perform when deep down they may have serious concerns – they’ve got young kids, they’ve got elderly family members,’ he told BBC Radio Five Live breakfast.

‘At the end of the day these players are human like everyone else and it sometimes begs the question, should the season still be going on? 

‘Personally I think in the middle of a pandemic and the spread, the numbers are rising, and the fact we have these Tier 4 places where people can’t travel but footballers are able to go in and out, take things back to the family, it’s probably not the wisest thing at the moment. 

‘It’s probably controversial and there are other players, other doctors who would disagree.

‘As well as a team doctor I am a GP and I have helped out on Covid wards so I am seeing both sides and it just seems there is a bigger picture going on.’

Other doctors at EFL clubs are believed to share his concerns. 

In the top four divisions, nine matches on Tuesday have been postponed due to outbreaks of the virus. Morecambe, who are due to play Chelsea in the third round of the FA Cup, Doncaster Rovers and Rochdale have all seen multiple matches postponed due to the spread of the virus. 

Southampton also confirmed that Ralph Hasenhuttl will not be in the dugout for their clash against West Ham on Tuesday after a member of the manager’s household tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. 

The Saints boss is set to manage the game from home via a video and audio link.

The outbreak at Ipswich last week prompted club physio Matt Byard to urge authorities to consider a ‘circuit breaker’ postponement to halt the spread.

Manager Paul Lambert tested positive for Covid-19 along with five players. General manager Lee O’Neill also tested positive.

Byard said: ‘I know the EFL are looking at bringing in extra measures, with maybe more testing for example. I have always supported routine testing to secure a return to playing programme.

‘Personally, with so many clubs affected by this presently and this new strain development, football may benefit from a ‘circuit breaker’ before a return to playing securely.’ 

Despite rising numbers of cases, Everton were furious at the decision to call off their game with City just hours before they were due to kick-off. Everton wanted to play and had started pre-match preparations at the Hilton Hotel in Liverpool, their usual base. 

Everton will now ask the Premier League for full disclosure on how they arrived at the decision to get transparency on the reasons behind it. 

Premier League rules state that matches should go ahead if a club has 14 available players, including a goalkeeper, although decisions are taken on a case-by-case basis and dependant on circumstances — particularly in relation to the pandemic. 

The precautionary measure is understood to have taken into consideration that some of those players who tested negative on Monday may return different results on Wednesday.

City could not test twice, given the tight turnaround following Boxing Day’s fixture, and sources maintained that all involved at Goodison Park would have been exposed to unnecessary risk. 

City confirmed they now had more than five cases in a statement following their postponement while Arsenal revealed defender Gabriel Magalhaes had tested positive and was isolating. 

Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker were named as the two City players in the first round of positive tests the Etihad club had and they are two of the 18 cases reported by the Premier League on Tuesday. 

Players or club staff who have tested positive will now self-isolate for a period of 10 days. 

The identity of those who test positive is not revealed by the Premier League on privacy grounds but clubs have produced statements of their own to clarify absences of first team players if it is virus-related. 

The latest results will be worrying as they are the biggest single weekly total since testing began for players and club staff. The Times reported on Tuesday that twice weekly testing will now become the protocol across the entire league. 

It remains unclear how many clubs are affected and whether other clubs are now at risk of having to postpone matches in a bid to get any potential outbreak under control. 

But in the case of City, a decision was made to postpone and it is expected that the League will have the powers to overrule their own guidelines on a case-by-case basis. 

On Monday, the United Kingdom posted its highest daily rate of infection since the pandemic began in March.

The previous highest number of cases in one round of Premier League testing this season was 16, during the week of November 9-15. 

A Premier League statement read: ‘The Premier League can today confirm that between Monday 21 December and Sunday 27 December, 1,479 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19. Of these, there were 18 new positive tests.

‘Players or club staff who have tested positive will self-isolate for a period of 10 days.

‘The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency. 

‘No specific details as to clubs or individuals will be provided by the League and results will be made public after each round of testing.’ 

The Premier League was suspended back in March when the pandemic first gripped the UK. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was the first boss in England’s top-flight to test positive. 

But the highest number of positive tests since Project Restart arrives as a concern with question marks over forthcoming matches heading into the new year.  

City officials believe their outbreak has stemmed from a night’s stay at a London hotel ahead of last week’s Carabao Cup semi-final win over Arsenal.

Subsequently, the virus has now spread within City’s bubble – causing their clash at Goodison Park to be postponed and Sunday’s big fixture against Chelsea to be called into question.   

Reacting to the outbreak at City, a Premier League statement read: ‘This rise has created uncertainty and the Premier League Board received medical advice that the match should be postponed. The Board agreed to rearrange the game as a precaution, and further testing will now take place tomorrow. 

‘The decision has been taken with the health of players and staff the priority.

‘The Premier League continues to have full confidence in its protocols and rules, and the way in which all clubs are implementing them. The League wishes those with COVID-19 a safe and speedy recovery and will rearrange the postponed fixture against Everton in due course.’ 

City’s postponement against Everton is only the second Premier League game that has been called off due to health concerns over the virus after Newcastle’s trip to Aston Villa was called off.

Positive cases reached double figures at the North East club and the decision was made on December 1 to postpone a trip to Villa Park. 

Clubs are operating strict bubbles for the first team and yet if an infection enters the bubble it can spread quickly. 

The club had concerns that cases would have increased had they travelled and stayed overnight for the Friday night game at Villa. 

Boss Steve Bruce has detailed the impact the virus has had on those affected with the club confirming captain Jamaal Lascelles and winger Allan Saint-Maximin have suffered with long Covid. 

Bruce had said: ‘My thoughts are with the two players, and the welfare of them. It’s frightening when you think they are young and fit and absolutely supreme athletes. If anybody needs reminding of how serious this is, then we have witnessed it.

‘We’ve had vomiting, sores, mouth ulcers, no smell, no taste, but the big thing, and which is worrying, is the welfare of one or two of them. It’s not great at all.

‘That long-term Covid is something which you wouldn’t think possible in young, fit athletes. Unfortunately, it is so.

‘They go for a walk for half an hour and then they want to go back to bed.. It’s as brutal as that.’

Rescheduling a number of games in an already truncated season would represent a significant headache, with City still in four competitions.

They have, however, been keen to stress that postponing Monday night’s match was the only logical action given the potential ramifications.

City, already six points behind league leaders Liverpool, will now spend the rest of the campaign trying to regain ground in every sense.

Should they go all the way in the Champions League – something they have yet to achieve under Pep Guardiola – they could have to squeeze seven Premier League games into just 16 days in May.   

COVID-19 Q&A: What will it take for football to be stopped? Can the Premier League go against their own 14-player rule? And what does all this mean for the FA Cup third round? Sportsmail answers the key questions after Man City’s postponement 

So, what’s the latest?

Manchester City’s trip to Everton became the second Premier League match this season to be postponed due to Covid-19. 

Following on from news on Christmas Day that Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker had tested positive for the virus, Sportsmail understands that three of City’s team returned positive tests on Monday, and the match at Goodison Park was called off around five hours before kick-off.

There are doubts over City’s ability to face Chelsea on Sunday and then Manchester United in the Carabao Cup semi-final next week. 

City’s training ground will temporarily close while more understanding is gained on the recent Christmas outbreak. 

There are more tests planned at City today in a bid to get control of the outbreak and to stop further spreading through players and staff. 

‘After the latest round of Covid-19 testing, the club returned a number of positive cases, in addition to the four already reported on Christmas Day,’ a City statement read.

‘With the security of the bubble compromised, there posed a risk that the virus could spread further among the squad, the staff and potentially beyond.

‘Based on strong medical advice the Premier League, in consultation with both clubs, have decided to postpone the (Everton) fixture. All positive cases involving players and staff will observe a period of self-isolation in accordance with PL and Government protocol on quarantine.’

What will it take for football to be stopped? 

A complete shutdown, as there was back in March when the nation was first gripped by Covid-19, remains unlikely.

However, the rising rate of infection could see supporters once again kept away, despite having just returned in small number in Tier 1 and 2 areas. 

Secretary of state for sport Oliver Dowden said following the Tier 4 announcement that ‘elite’ sport could continue behind closed doors and that is expected to continue. 

It is a tricky one to answer but if clubs soon become ravaged by positive cases the Premier League could face some very tricky decisions.  

I thought 14 or more players meant NO postponements?

Well, technically yes. 

Premier League rules state that matches should go ahead if a club has 14 available players, including a goalkeeper.

Before the 2020-21 season began, it was outlined to clubs that Under 23s who had played first-team games should be included as part of the 14 in a bid to avoid postponing matches.

The Premier League are keen to finish the season on time to avoid issues down the line with broadcasters – like during 2019-20 Project Restart – but are unwilling to compromise safety to do so.  

The Premier League can make a judgement call then?

They can.

With the nation seeing new daily highs for recorded cases and an increase in Covid-19-related deaths, the League are keen to avoid unnecessary risk and exposure. 

The decision to postpone City’s trip to Goodison Park came on the back of medical advice and was seen as a precautionary measure, to prevent contamination in Everton’s squad.

Even with the rules stating no game should be postponed if there are 14 players eligible, the Premier League can treat matches on a case-by-case basis, as they did on Monday evening following an emergency meeting.  

Has this happened before? 

Once before this season – Newcastle’s trip to Aston Villa was postponed following an outbreak in Steve Bruce’s squad. 

Positive cases reached double figures at the North East club and the decision was made on December 1 to postpone a trip to Villa Park. 

Clubs are operating strict bubbles for the first team and yet if an infection enters the bubble it can spread quickly. 

The club had concerns that cases would have increased had they travelled and stayed overnight for the Friday night game at Villa. 

So City’s postponement represents only the second Premier League game this season to be postponed due to the impact of the coronavirus.  

Are league-wide positive test results on the rise?

The latest figures show the biggest weekly return of positive Covid-19 results in the Premier League since testing began.  

The week of November 9 to November 15 was the worst for positive tests with 16 for Covid-19 from 1,207 individuals tested. But that was topped for the week of December 20 to December 27 with 18 players and staff recorded as positive for the virus.

The first week heading into December, when Newcastle saw their game postponed, there were 14 cases. 

In contrast there were only 30 positive cases from around 35,000 tests carried out during Project Restart so the increase remains significant.

Clubs are operating strict measures to avoid players and staff contracting the virus but the increase in national cases, plus the new strain, has seen greater cause for concern across the top flight.  

Is more testing the answer?

Sportsmail exclusively revealed last week that clubs in Tier 4 areas would return to twice-weekly testing for players and staff. It now seems that clubs across the division, regardless of tier, will revert to twice weekly testing.

The discovery of a mutant strain of the virus saw the decision made to double up the amount of weekly testing in troublesome areas of the country as an added precaution. 

Following their outbreak earlier in the month, Newcastle had funded more testing themselves beyond the League’s mandatory once a week. 

Tier 4, which affects London, the South East and eastern England, have seen tougher measures to tackle the rise in cases and teams in those areas are subsequently testing more often to avoid a swarm of positive tests.  

Can fans expect more postponements to follow? 

It’s tricky to say as the situation can swing one way or the other very quickly.

City’s postponement at Everton and subsequent closure of their training ground does make their game against Chelsea highly unlikely, although there has been no official decision on the League as of yet as to whether it goes ahead as planned. 

Guardiola’s side already face a busy schedule but could have to squeeze seven games into 16 days in May if there are further delays to their calendar. 

Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes tested positive and is isolating but it is unknown whether there has been a bigger outbreak among his team-mates and first team staff. 

City’s sudden outbreak will place the rest of the league on alert heading into what is anticipated to be a harsh January.  

What about the EFL… and the FA Cup? 

In a word: chaos.  

Rochdale’s next two League One games have been postponed while Morecambe and Doncaster Rovers have also had their matches pushed back.

Rotherham, on the other hand, will play their Championship game with Barnsley on Tuesday just to avoid receiving a possible points deduction.  

Rochdale club doctor Dr Wes Tensel told BBC Radio 5Live on Tuesday: ‘It’s not the wisest thing for the season to continue.’

Chelsea are already facing their game against City being called off and Morecambe, their FA Cup third-round opponent, are in the midst of postponements following an outbreak, bringing their cup tie into doubt. 

‘We’ll see what the position is,’ said Lampard. ‘It’s a key time and a rough time, and we felt that coming with Tier 4 coming in and the surge in Covid.

‘From our point of view I will find out more over the next day or two to make sure it has to be safe for the two teams. If not the (City) game won’t go ahead.

‘If we don’t play these games (City and Morecambe) we’ll keep working. I’m not surprised because the way Covid is in the UK is difficult for everybody and football isn’t very different. So we’ll just have to see what the Premier League come up with but safety will be paramount.’

The FA Cup is being considered an elite sporting event and while it is expected to go ahead as planned, there are concerns about teams from different divisions mixing while cases are on the rise. 

Eight Premier League clubs are on the road at lower-league opposition and there has been an appetite to establish the Covid-19 protocol in place at these grounds to keep both sets of players and staff safe.