COVID-19 cases and injuries in Everton forced the Premier League to receive club requests for delays and postponed their fist equipment at Burnley, the word league on Friday.
This is the 13th Premier League match which will be called because of the Fixture Day Covid-19 and third boxing to be postponed after Liverpool vs Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Watford were called on Thursday.
Everton manager Rafael Benitez said on Thursday that his club had a request to postpone Sunday matches rejected by the Premier League, adding it was unfair because he had six injuries and five players down with Covid-19.
“The council reviews the club’s request today to postpone the match after further injury with their troops,” Premier League said in a statement.
“They concluded that the club would not be able to fulfill their match this weekend as a result of the number of players who were sufficiently available to play because of Covid-19 cases and injuries.” The Premier League only provides a delay if the club has less than 14 players – 13 outfield players and one goalkeeper – available, with the board checking requests based on cases per case.
The two clubs have been postponed this month with Burnley now staring at the pile of matches with four matches in hand after boxing day.
East Lancashire club has a match against Watford and Aston Villa was postponed because of the Covid-19 outbreak while a house clash against Tottenham Hotspur was called less than two hours before kickoff because of heavy snow.
Burnley was in the relegation zone, in 18th place at 11 points from 15 matches.
Everton was in 14th place at 19 points from 17 matches.
The UK reported a record of 119,789 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday as fighting a surge in infection driven by the Omicron variant.