Match Thread POSTPONED: Everton v Manchester City - Preview only

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I'm not so convinced they did this slyly - I still think when numbers start to grow quickly you have no choice. HOWEVER, if they did, they are in big danger of being hoist by their own petard.

They are next scheduled to play on 3rd Jan - 6 days away. They have already declared they have 5 covid-infected players, who will now need to quarantine for 12 - 14 days. If they have used the numbers game for postponing today's game, they cannot possibly declare themselves able to play on the 3rd. And even then there's a good chance the numbers may increase.

So this could (should) put City out of action for 2 weeks at least, in a season that started late (so we're playing catch up anyway), in which they are still in all competitions, and where this deferment will give them the mother of all fixture congestions somewhere down the line.

On a practical level, I'd take our chances of playing them on their 6th game in 10 days when our best are hopefully back and we may even be able to have the benefit of a significantly larger home crowd.
If you test positive then the 14 day quarantine doesn't apply.
They are good to go as soon as they test negative.

The 10-14 days is to give people a chance to catch it and get over it if they come into contact with it.
 

The Premier League are probably panicking at the idea of delaying the season, or even worse having to just cancel it outright, there are players moving in and out of tier 2-3-4 areas with a congested fixture list who can quite easily spread covid to multiple clubs before it's even picked up by testing.

It's completely reasonable for them to make the decision to protect players with postponements but that has to be done in a way that all parties are aware of the reasoning behind the decision and all clubs throughout the leagues understand how and why these decisions are being made otherwise it's open to abuse. I don't think Everton will be particularly upset at the postponed game itself but rules shouldn't just be made up behind the scenes without any consultation so it should definitely be called out.
 
All if’s and buts, but there was a chance we’d have not gotten the points today, picked up more injuries or suspensions, gone into the West Ham game with less rest/players available and lost points there too.
Funny old season, Everton are second remember
 

It was a stupid rule to be fair.

These players tested negative on xmas day, yet 2 days later tested positive. Say they did field a team that all tested negative today but tomorrow morning or wednesday a load more who played us then tested positive. If its rife in the club they need to shut it down and contain it
And they need to concede the game and the three points. When Hamilton had it Mercedes had to use another driver and didn't win the GP. ( although they did cock it up themselves) Flaunting rules can't go unpunished.
 
Sorry to drag politics in here, but with 40k positive tests today I now agree with @davek that there's every chance this season will be canned fairly soon.

Things are beginning to spiral.
Covid postponements and advantage and disadvantage over home support make this season null and void already IMO.

There is no integrity and therefore competition has gone.
 
And they need to concede the game and the three points. When Hamilton had it Mercedes had to use another driver and didn't win the GP. ( although they did cock it up themselves) Flaunting rules can't go unpunished.
They didnt flaunt the rules.

They asked permission and the Premier League bent for them.

Anyway, lets see what this brings.
 

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