London, December 25 (BNA) – The English Premier League said on Friday that the cases and cases of Covid-19 virus in Everton forced the Premier League to accept the club’s request for a postponement and canceled the Boxing Day match away from its stadium at Burnley Stadium.
Reuters said it was the 13th Premier League game to be canceled due to Covid-19 and the third Boxing Day match postponed after Liverpool’s match against Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers against Watford on Thursday was called off due to cases in the visiting teams.
Everton coach Rafa Benitez said on Thursday that his club had received a request to postpone Sunday’s match, which the Premier League had rejected, adding that this was unfair, as it had suffered six injuries and five players with Covid-19.
“The board of directors reviewed the club’s request today to postpone the match after its team sustained more injuries,” the Premier League said in a statement.
“They have concluded that the club will not be able to play its game this weekend due to an insufficient number of players available to play due to COVID-19 cases and injuries.”
The Premier League only grants a reprieve if a club has fewer than 14 players – 13 off-field players and one goalkeeper – with the board examining applications on a case-by-case basis.
Both clubs had already postponed matches this month with Burnley now staring at the fixture backlog with four games on hand after Boxing Day.
East Lancashire played matches against Watford and Aston Villa that were postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak while their home match against Tottenham Hotspur was called off less than two hours before kick-off due to heavy snowfall.
Burnley are in the relegation zone, 18th with 11 points from 15 games. Everton is 14th with 19 points from 17 games.
Britain reported 119,789 new daily cases of COVID-19 on Thursday as it battles a surge in infections fueled by the Omicron formula.
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