Dhe upcoming game day in the Premier League, if you should call him that at all, is now like a fragment. Five encounters are still taking place, five have been canceled. Stand now. The Omikron variant is raging at breakneck speed in England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expecting “a tidal wave of infections” that is already plaguing professional club players in a row.
Experts such as the British epidemiologist Chris Whitty predict that the record number of cases will be broken several times in the next few weeks. Johnson’s epidemiological advisors are no longer ruling out the possibility that one million new infections per day and several thousand new patients in British clinics every day can be expected by Christmas.
In Great Britain, the government estimates that hundreds of thousands are infected with the Omicron variant every day. The 3G rule now applies to attending major events such as football matches in the top leagues. Due to the corona, the game between Burnley FC and Watford on Wednesday and the game between Leicester and Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday could not take place. Several games in the 2nd division were also canceled.
Omikron versus a stuffed game plan
Like Manchester United, Brentford and Co., the Tottenham team has also reported numerous corona cases. Coach Antonio Conte showed a lack of understanding last week that the game should continue first. “The situation upsets me a bit because the situation is serious,” said the Italian. “Why do we have to take the risk?”
But the planners of the Premier League are in a quandary, reason is the jam-packed game plan. The cancellation of entire match days would cause the already packed calendar of English professional clubs to burst. Therefore, primarily only those who do not see any other way out will be removed from the list of appointments.
As the league announced, the Saturday games Southampton FC against Brentford, Watford against Crystal Palace, West Ham United against Norwich City and the match between Everton FC and Leicester City scheduled for Sunday will be postponed at the request of the clubs. Brentford FC cannot train because they had to close their training grounds due to a corona outbreak. Watford FC and Norwich City no longer have enough players for the next game due to numerous corona cases in the team. And nothing works at Leicester City either. The match between Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday had already been canceled. There are increasing voices from the league to let the competition rest for the time being.
Chelsea’s Timo Werner infected with Corona
Thomas Tuchel from Chelsea does not want to join the demands for a game to be canceled. “I don’t know, I don’t want to get involved in political matters,” said Tuchel on Thursday evening after his team’s 1-1 (0-0) win against FC Everton at BT Sport: “If they decide we have to play , then we play. “
Before the game, the coach of the London club had announced that the German international Timo Werner as well as Romelu Lukaku, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell had tested positive for the corona virus. Kai Havertz also complained of malaise, but had not yet tested positive. Further tests were still pending. In London, the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus is already responsible for 60 percent of new infections.
“By Christmas at the latest, the intensive care units should be overcrowded”
The number of Omicron cases in the UK is currently doubling in two days. Pressure on Boris Johnson to tighten measures is growing. Doctors warn: By Christmas at the latest, the intensive care units should be overcrowded. WELT correspondent Arndt Striegler reports from London.
Tuchel described the draw against Everton as frustrating. “It is clear that we have missed a lot of players, great personalities, regulars,” said the coach, “but we will not accept that as an excuse.” As third in the table, Chelsea are three points behind second Liverpool and four on the leaders and defending champions Manchester city.
Tuchel’s German coaching colleague Jürgen Klopp also doesn’t believe in a season break in the Premier League because of the spread. “I don’t see any great benefit. When we come back it will be the same, ”the Liverpool manager told the BBC on Thursday night after his team beat Newcastle United 3-1. If the virus were gone after an interruption, he would be the first to go home and wait for the virus to go away. “But that probably won’t be the case.”
According to the trainer, Jürgen Klopp’s team has “a hundred percent vaccination rate”
Quelle: pa/dmg media Licensing/Ian Hodgson
Shortly before the clash against Newcastle, Liverpool had to replace a trio that tested positive. Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones were infected. Klopp expects more cases. His team would have to compete at Tottenham on Sunday.
Klopp once again promoted vaccination in the face of the Omikron hurricane. “If no one was vaccinated, people would die like flies. Just because so many are vaccinated, some people have the freedom not to be vaccinated. It’s just difficult, ”he said.
Klopp’s coaching colleague Thomas Frank called for the entire matchday to be canceled on Thursday and for the league cup round to be postponed for the coming weekend. “The corona cases are going through the roof at all Premier League clubs, everyone has to grapple with it and have problems,” said Frank. A postponement of the first division games and the upcoming round in the Carabao Cup, the second most important cup competition, would offer time to ensure hygiene measures and break the chain of infection, said the Dane.
“Of course we want to play and it’s important that football is played,” said Frank. But a postponement could also help ensure that the games could take place on the traditionally popular Christmas game day. “This variant of omicron is spreading like wildfire around the world, and we should do everything we can to protect ourselves and avoid it.” He therefore believes that training facilities should be closed for a few days.
In England, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has just modeled what Omikron could do in the UK. In the best case scenario, between now and the end of April next year, 20.9 of the 67 million inhabitants would be infected with Omikron, 175,000 would have to go to hospital and 24,700 would die. In the worst scenario, there would be more than 34 million infected people, around 492,000 hospital deaths and 74,800 deaths.
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