A more contagious variant of COVID-19, which many to believe was first discovered in the United Kingdom is wreaking havoc all over the world. In the U.K. it’s led to more stringent restrictions in everyday life and now more cancellations within the Football Association.
Tomorrow’s third round FA Cup tie between Liverpool and Aston Villa is in serious doubt right now due to a covid-19 outbreak at AVFC. Thursday saw the club announce the temporarily closure of its Bodymoor Heath Training Facility.
Liverpool Starting XI Prediction, Team News vs Aston Villa: go here
“A large number of first team players and staff returned positive tests after being routinely tested on Monday and immediately went into isolation,” the club statement reads.
“A second round of testing was carried out immediately and produced more positive results [on Thursday].”
At this point, the Villans may just not have enough players and team staff available to stage the match due to positive tests and contact tracing protocols. Nothing is official as of yet, but the statement also added that:
“discussions are ongoing between medical representatives of the club, the Football Association and the Premier League.”
Meanwhile, in another announcement made on Thursday, this one much more certain and definitive, we saw the cancellation of Saturday’s Southampton FC vs Shrewsbury Town FA Cup clash on Saturday. The Saints’ official statement reads:
“The club received notice of the decision from the Football Association this morning, after a number of Shrewsbury players and staff members tested positive for Covid-19.”
As for the future of this third round tie in the oldest domestic tournament, when it might be rescheduled and etc. the club’s statement says that:
“A meeting of The FA’s Professional Game Board will take place early next week to make a decision as to what will happen with the fixture, and we will update supporters as soon as we have any further information.”
This all comes against the backdrop of the Premier League announcing, on Tuesday, a new season high number of virus cases. This number reflects last week’s testing results, but all of this points to a very uncertain back half of the 20/21 season.
You can definitely expect more cancellations in the near term, in all domestic competitions.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.