It’s deja vu all over again…

It’s deja vu all over again as the Premier League is again battling the effects of COVID-19 as the virus continues to cause spread across England.

The Mirror is reporting Premier League clubs “will meet to discuss a potential season shutdown over the festive period as COVID continues to cause havoc with a host of postponements throughout the league.” The meeting is scheduled for Monday. As of this posting, the Premier League has resisted to temporarily shutdown the season.

During his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, Mikel Arteta addressed the issue this way, “I think there are people that know much more than I do to try and find out what the best solution is, to find out if we should carry on playing with the rules that we have at the moment or stop it. I don’t know, it’s not something that I want to give an opinion on because I’m not a scientist and I’m not a specialist and we have to rely on the government and the Premier League to try to make the best decision. We’ve been trying to explain what the risks are, how we can get it and what we have to do if we do get it. But as well now, we all have relatives and we all have people around us who have been through that in many different ways and I think everybody’s awareness is pretty good. I think it’s really difficult to control what happens outside when everything is open, so those bubbles that we were able to create before are now impossible to do. We’re going to have to find a way and we knew that when we started this season that this could be a possibility, and I’m sure that there was a plan A, B and C because this can happen.”

“We have the African Cup of Nations in the middle of all this and we have the World Cup coming up too and the dates of that. I think we need a flexible calendar now because this world is not the world that we used to live in a few years ago, and we all have to be prepared. We all prepare with different protocols every single day for training sessions, you have to cancel training sessions, you have six players out, you have 20 members out, so I’m sure that the league has a very flexible calendar and options to fit it in because this is what we’re living in.” [courtesy of Arsenal.com]

As of this morning here is the list of Premier League matches already postponed…

Brighton and Hove v Tottenham – Sunday, December 12

Brentford v Manchester United – Tuesday, December 14

Burnley v Watford – Wednesday, December 15

Leicester City v Tottenham – Thursday, December 16

Manchester United v Brighton and Hove – Saturday, December 18

Southampton v Brentford – Saturday, December 18

Watford v Crystal Palace – Saturday, December 18

West Ham United v Norwich City – Saturday, December 18

Everton v Leicester City – Sunday, December 19

Among Premier League managers there seems to be a difference of opinion regarding a pause in the schedule. Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp wants to continue playing, while Brentford’s Thomas Frank believes a pause is necessary.

Currently, the Arsenal squad seems healthy and has avoided the recent COVID outbreak, however, Leeds United will play on Saturday with a somewhat depleted squad.

Of the ten league matches to be played this weekend, so far only five will carry on as planned. At least for now.

Obviously, a pause would cause scheduling chaos as the Premier League schedule hasn’t even hit the halfway point, European competitions are in full swing, the Carabao Cup is still going on, and the FA Cup begins next month. Then, of course there is still the African Cup of Nations, World Cup qualifiers and the UEFA Nations League to contend with as well. It would be a “10 pounds in a 5 pound bag” scenario.

It’s hard to imagine we are again preparing to go through this ordeal. Just when things were getting back to a form of “normal,” the preverbal sh*t hits the fan again.

I’m hopeful the right decisions are made, and that safety and health come first. With football aside, all I can say is be safe, be smart and keep your fingers crossed this current uptick of COVID will soon pass.

Gunner1953