Football facing Covid crisis as number of games postponed including Sheffield Wednesday vs Accrington Stanley and Leicester City vs Tottenham

Football is facing a covid crisis with a number of games postponed across the EFL and Premier League.
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Sheffield Wednesday’s Sky Bet League One clash with Accrington on Saturday has been postponed because of a coronavirus outbreak at the club.

The match is the latest to be called off as the current wave of the virus sweeps through the game.

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A statement on the club website read: “Wednesday informed the EFL that we would be unable to fulfil the fixture. Both clubs are currently liaising together with the EFL regarding a rearranged date, details of which will be communicated in due course.”

Sheffield Wednesday have seen their weekend game postponed.  (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)Sheffield Wednesday have seen their weekend game postponed.  (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Sheffield Wednesday have seen their weekend game postponed. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Brentford manager Thomas Frank has called for the upcoming round of Premier League fixtures to be postponed to allow clubs to deal with coronavirus outbreaks.

Frank saw his side’s clash with Manchester United go under on Tuesday as the country deals with the Omicron variant, with Burnley’s match with Watford on Wednesday becoming the third Premier League fixture in a week to be called off.

Frank and the Bees have Covid issues of their own to deal with ahead of a Saturday trip to Southampton and the Dane would like to see a break in play to help manage the situation across the league.

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“We think we should postpone the full round of Premier League games this weekend,” he said on Thursday morning.

“Covid cases are going through the roof at all Premier League clubs, everyone is dealing with it and having problems.

“To postpone this round and also the Carabao Cup round would give everyone a week at least, or four or five days to clean and do everything at the training ground so everything is clean and you break the chain.”

Burnley’s clash with Watford was postponed just two and a half hours before the scheduled kick-off time due to an outbreak in the Hornets squad.

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Clarets defender Matt Lowton was asked at a press conference on Thursday if he thought what Frank was calling for was a good idea, and he said: “I’m not sure to be honest.

“From my point of view, I just want to play football. I think from a player’s point of view, we want to play – we want to come to the weekend and have the game, have the buzz, and that’s what we’ve trained for all week.

“But obviously the safety of players, fans and things like that is paramount. So hopefully the game can go ahead, but I can see why, if they did call it like that, you can see where they are coming from. Hopefully we can go ahead as safely as possible.”

In League Two, Crawley’s clash with Oldham and Barrow’s trip to Northampton on Saturday were also called off due to positive cases in the Crawley and Northampton camps.

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Sunderland – who play Arsenal in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Tuesday evening – travel to Ipswich Town in League One on Saturday, while Newcastle United face Liverpool away on Thursday evening. They host Manchester City at St James’s Park on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League.

Hartlepool United make the long trip down to Colchester United for their League Two game on Saturday afternoon.