Four more games are POSTPONED due to Covid as pressure mounts on Premier League to pause the season

The Premier League were forced to call off half of this weekend’s fixtures on Thursday night due to multiple Covid outbreaks – but insist the rest of the matches will go ahead, along with the majority of next week’s festive programme.

Brighton’s lunchtime trip to Manchester United was postponed earlier in the day, with Southampton v Brentford, Watford v Crystal Palace, West Ham United v Norwich City and Everton v Leicester City later called off after further positive tests for players and staff.

As first reported by Sportsmail on Monday, several club executives fear a temporary shutdown may be the only way to break the current rapid transmission of the Omicron variant. Since then, eight top-flight games have been postponed. 

Tottenham’s match at Leicester on Thursday was called off after Brentford and Burnley both suffered late postponements earlier in the week. And the sense of deepening crisis was heightened when half of this weekend’s programme was wiped out.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank called for a ‘circuit-breaker’ blanket postponement of this weekend’s matches.

‘The Covid cases are going through the roof at all Premier League clubs,’ he said.  

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers was unable to put together a 14-man squad for Everton clash

‘To postpone this round and the Carabao Cup would give everyone a week to clean the training ground so everything is fine and we break the chain at every club.’ 

But the Premier League has insisted the show must go on and are confident emergency protocols introduced earlier this week – including daily testing for all players and staff – can stem the flow of the virus.

A statement read: ‘The League understands fans will be disappointed these matches have had to be postponed and apologises for the inconvenience and disruption caused.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has demanded that all of this weekend’s fixtures are called off

‘All other fixtures due to be played this weekend are currently scheduled to proceed.’ 

All of this weekend’s postponements were signed off at an emergency meeting of the Premier League Board.

Brentford and Watford were unable to train properly as their facilities have been closed, while Norwich, Leicester and Manchester United do not have the requisite 14 available players to fulfil their fixtures.

It is understood United only had seven players available and on Thursday shut down their first-team operations at Carrington for the second time this week to tackle the outbreak.

Sportsmail also understands a row is brewing among the jabbed and jabbed-nots in the top flight.

It is understood officials at many of the clubs with higher vaccination uptakes suspect that there is a link between some of the clubs worst affected by Covid and poor uptake levels.

And they harbour concerns that those who have managed to get games called off are securing an unfair advantage in the fight for European places and against the drop.

Norwich were without a number of players in Tuesday’s defeat against Aston Villa

There are even suspicions among some that clubs with long injury lists are using positive cases to ensure potentially tricky matches are postponed.

Some on the other side of the argument point out Brentford have the second-highest vaccination rate in Premier League (over 90 per cent), but currently 13 positives, while Spurs are over 85 per cent but have had three games called off.

Many Premier League players have cancelled Christmas party plans for this weekend.

Sportsmail knows of at least one squad reporting positive Covid cases this week who had planned a day out in London on Sunday, but the players have now cancelled the trip.  

Leicester confirmed their Premier League clash at Everton on Sunday has been postponed just hours after Thursday’s meeting with Tottenham suffered the same fate. 

The Foxes are one of many top-flight clubs to suffer a Covid-19 outbreak within the squad, which left them unable to put together a 14-man squad – the League’s minimum requirement – to face Spurs.

Once Leicester announced they would be closing their training ground for 48 hours from Thursday, their chances of facing Rafael Benitez’s team at Goodison Park looked increasingly remote, as Mail Online reported on Thursday lunchtime.

A Leicester statement read: ‘Leicester City Football Club can confirm that Sunday’s Premier League visit to Everton has now been postponed after a meeting of the Premier League Board.

‘The decision, which follows the postponement of Thursday evening’s fixture against Tottenham Hotspur, was again taken with guidance from medical advisors in light of further positive tests for COVID-19 within Leicester City’s First Team Squad over the last 24 hours.

‘First Team operations at Seagrave remain closed for a period of 48 hours to reduce the risk of further infection. The Club regrets all inconvenience caused to both Leicester City and Everton supporters by the postponement, with a new date to be confirmed in due course.’

On Wednesday manager Brendan Rodgers expressed fears that the League were prioritising their lucrative television contracts over the health of players and staff.

He said: ‘I’m pretty sure that’s the case, yeah. In terms of players, managers and coaches, we all want to play the games. But ultimately the health of a player is the priority.

‘If you have players available, you get a better product. Whatever team you put out, supporters will demand you win the game, and for some squads – ourselves included – that’s a real challenge at the moment.’