This tight scrutiny may well head off a mutiny

PREMIER League 748, Covid-19 6. Looks like a pretty emphatic scoreline in football’s favour. A home win.

Only it is not, of course. Just one positive from 748 tests would have been enough to reinforce the fears of a swathe of players reluctant to return to the pitch.

Coronavirus has infected football, its clubs and its participants in the same insidious way it has infected all walks of life.

That was always going to be the case and the results announced by the Premier League should be seen as neither a boost to its Project Restart plans or a blow to them.

In Germany, ahead of their resumption, the Bundesliga carried out 1724 initial tests across their two divisions and returned 10 positive cases. That is a lower percentage than the Premier League results but that had to be expected considering how much better Germany has dealt with the pandemic.

In that sense, the Premier League results might even have been a bit ‘better’ than expected. Six out of 748 is actually just a reflection of the situation amongst the general public. It has to be. The key difference for Premier League players like Dele Alli (above) is they and club staff will now be tested twice a week and cases isolated, as these six have been.

These positive tests might well convince more players that a restart is not worth the risk. But the only thing they show beyond question is that for those who do want to go back, the workplace will be under as strong a medical microscope as they could hope for.