BREAKING: Premier League make final decision on Chelsea’s festive games after latest meeting
Chelsea had requested that their league game against Wolves be cancelled, but the game on Sunday went on as planned, and a depleted Chelsea squad could only get a point from the fixture.
However, The Blues boss Thomas Tuchel is among the managers clamouring for games to be cancelled amid the ongoing Covid outbreak.
Following a meeting between clubs on Monday to decide how best to deal with the current coronavirus crisis, the Premier League have decided against halting games this Christmas.
Representatives of every top-flight club held talks via Zoom to discuss the possibility of postponing a round of fixtures over the festive period in order to halt the spread of Covid-19 cases.
Some teams had suggested moving the games scheduled for December 28-30 to a later date, but, according to The Athletic, the majority of clubs felt that was a risky strategy and preferred to continue playing on.
The Premier League is against any postponement, as it would have an economic implication for the league, and the fixture schedule is already rammed up and would create significant problems for teams who have already had several matches postponed.
The general consensus from the meeting is that the individual matches will still be postponed on a case-by-case basis, as has already been happening and not a general postponement.
Moreso, the Premier League have also clarified to teams how many players need to be missing for a match to be postponed. It revealed that 13 outfield players and one keeper is enough for a game to go ahead and clubs have been urged to utilise their youth players more this period.
As it stands, this means that Chelsea’s weekend game against Aston Villa will go on as scheduled.