Premier League on verge of another shutdown as fear grips clubs over rapid spread of Covid-19

Reports in England claim that Premier League clubs are fearful of mass postponements and the potential need for another shutdown due to the rapid spread of Omicron and their slow progress in vaccinating players.

The League announced 42 positive tests for Covid on Monday night — the most ever recorded in a single week — with at least five clubs having confirmed cases, including Manchester United whose fixture at Brentford on Tuesday is in doubt as a result.

The clubs’ worries have been exacerbated by the slow pace of their vaccination programmes, which has left the majority of players facing a wait to receive the booster jab required to provide protection against Omicron, after studies showed that two jabs offer little immunity.

According to the Daily Mail, Wolves are the only top-flight club who expect to meet Boris Johnson’s target of boosting all over-18s by the end of the month — although Leeds and Brentford are also understood to be well advanced in their planning to give the crucial third jab to their players and staff.

Almost a third of players will therefore have to wait until at least the end of January to receive their booster, and many others will be hanging on until the new year, because a significant number of second doses were not administered until the start of October.

Tottenham’s matches against Rennes and Brighton were called off last week, along with Monday’s Championship game between Sheffield United and Queens Park Rangers. Leicester and Norwich also considered postponing their games against Newcastle and Manchester United before going ahead.

The Premier League insist that with rigorous testing measures in place and emergency protocols reintroduced they should be able to continue, but sources at several clubs are privately questioning whether they can carry on in the event of mass postponements without compromising the competition’s integrity — particularly ahead of the congested festive period.