Staff Reporter.
Saturday’s Premier League game between Aston Villa and Burnley has been postponed after an “increased amount of positive Covid-19 test results” in the Villa squad.
The postponement was announced just over two hours before the scheduled 15:00 GMT kick-off at Villa Park.
Villa apologised to Burnley and their fans but said they acted “as swiftly as possible” to “minimise disruption”.
It means Leeds v Arsenal is Saturday’s only remaining Premier League game.
Six matches were originally scheduled to take place on the day.
The Premier League said that it understands the decision to postpone the game a little more than two hours before kick-off “will frustrate and disappoint supporters”.
A Premier League statement said: “After reviewing all the new information provided by Aston Villa this morning and receiving separate medical advice, the [Premier League] Board approved the request as a result of the club not having enough players to field a team. This decision was based on the number of Covid-19 cases, injuries and illness.”
The Villa-Burnley game becomes the 10th Premier League match to be postponed over the past week because of Covid-19 cases within clubs, and the sixth from this weekend’s fixture list. Manchester United v Brighton, Southampton v Brentford, Watford v Crystal Palace and West Ham v Norwich had already been called off, plus Sunday’s game between Everton and Leicester.
Sunday’s matches between Newcastle v Manchester City, Wolves v Chelsea and Tottenham v Liverpool are due to go ahead as planned.
It is the second Burnley match to have been called off this week after their home game with Watford was postponed on Wednesday, while their match with Tottenham on 28 November was unable to go ahead because of heavy snow.
Premier League clubs will meet on Monday to discuss the escalating crisis around the coronavirus pandemic, with the league’s chief executive Richard Masters having written to clubs urging players to get the vaccine and stressed the importance of the league completing the season.
Earlier this week, Brentford boss Thomas Frank said matches should be called off until 26 December to enable a reset, but Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he did not see the benefit in stopping.