The match at Villa Park is the latest top-flight match in England to be impacted by the country’s current Omicron spike.
The Premier League match between Aston Villa and Burnley was called off hours before kick-off after the hosts received a number of positive Covid-19 test findings among their team.
The match between Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool and Sean Dyche’s Clarets at Villa Park is the latest top-flight match in England to be impacted by the current Omicron surge.
Leeds United’s match against Arsenal is now the sole remaining contest on a strewn Saturday schedule.
So, what happened?
Despite having been forced to postpone four matches in December due to rising infection rates across the country, the Premier League planned to press on today.
However, with less than three hours till kick-off in Birmingham, Villa announced on social media that the game would be postponed due to an increase in the number of suspected cases within their squad.
It means they’ll be joining a number of other games that have already been canceled due to Covid-19, including Manchester United’s match against Brighton, Brentford’s trip to Southampton, Watford’s match against Crystal Palace, and West Ham’s match against Norwich.
According to Aston Villa FC via their Twitter page, they stated:
They further said;
“The results of PCR tests, which were taken yesterday prior to training as well as Lateral Flow Tests, were received this morning and confirmed further depletion of our playing squad which was already impacted upon for our trip to Norwich in midweek.”
“All individuals who tested positive are now isolating in line with Premier League and government guidance and protocols.”
Will there be any more postponements?
The Premier League has stated that the remaining matchups scheduled for this weekend will take place as scheduled.
This includes Saturday’s match between Leeds United and Arsenal, as well as Manchester City’s trip to Newcastle, Chelsea’s trip to Wolves, and Liverpool’s trip to Tottenham on Sunday.
Given the fluid nature of the issue, future games may be canceled if additional case numbers are discovered to have increased inside playing groups.
