There was always going to be a problem this season with Covid-19 and a packed schedule, so the Premier League face their first major dilemma with the upcoming game between Newcastle and West Brom.
The game is scheduled to go ahead on Saturday 12 December despite The Telegraph confirming that Newcastle currently have 12 players who are isolating due to Covid-19 infections or close contacts.
Incredibly it appears the Premier League have decided that 14 players need to be missing before a game will be cancelled, so presumably they’ve decided if you have 11 warm bodies to put on the pitch then that’s good enough.
Obviously Newcastle aren’t happy but they also appear to be keeping their cards close to their chest. The report states that game is set to go ahead, but Newcastle are refusing to confirm if that will be the case, while they also won’t confirm who will actually be available or if they are trying to get it postponed.
It likely means they’ll need to patch together some kind of squad using youth team players too, so you immediately have to wonder if this would be the case if one of the “big” teams was caught up in the same situation.