Festive doubts grow as Man Utd take ‘only option’ to cancel Brighton clash
Manchester United insist they had ‘no option’ but to postpone Saturday’s Premier League clash with Brighton due the number of Covid-19 cases at the club.
Tuesday’s encounter with Brentford had already been lost to the virus. The Red Devils were due to welcome Graham Potter’s Seagulls to Old Trafford at the weekend. But the club have issued a statement outlining the reasons why it was deemed necessary to call the game off.
“Manchester United can confirm that our Premier League fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion, scheduled for Saturday Dec. 18 at 12:30 GMT, has been postponed and will be rescheduled in due course,” it read, per ESPN.
“The health of players and staff is our priority. Given the number of players and support staff having to isolate due to COVID-19, the club had no option other than to request the match be rearranged.”
And the players will now be given a rest away from training to try and contain the latest outbreak.
“The Premier League Board took the decision to postpone based on guidance from medical advisors,” the statement added. “We will also suspend football training operations at the Carrington Training Complex for a short period. This is to help reduce risk of further transmission.
“We regret any disappointment and inconvenience caused to fans by the postponement.”
Festive doubt for United and rivals
The proliferation of the Omicron variant has threatened to disrupt the busy festive football programme. Brentford boss Thomas Frank has already called for all this weekend’s games to be postponed.
“The Covid cases are going through the roof at all Premier League clubs,” he said. “Everyone is dealing with it and everyone has a problem at this moment in time.
“To postpone this round [of Premier League games] and the Carabao Cup would give everyone a week at least to clean and do everything at the training ground so everything is fine and we break the chain at every club.”
The dramatic rise in cases across the UK brings into question the option of playing matches behind closed doors. That was the case for the majority of the 2020-2021 campaign and it not a scenario welcomed by any club.
Further postponements may follow in the next 48 hours. But the Premier League hopes to keep things going wherever possible.
A statement read: “It is with regret that this is the fourth Premier League fixture to have been postponed in the past week.
“While recognising a number of clubs are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, it is the League’s intention to continue its current fixture schedule where safely possible.
“Manchester United continues to have an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak within their squad, which has left them unable to field a team for the match at Old Trafford.”
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