Premier League and EFL to increase Covid testing

THE Premier League and EFL are stepping up their efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus as fears grow over a mutant variant of the virus which is believed to be more infectious.

Top-flight players in tier four areas will be tested for Covid-19 twice a week as soon as it is practically possible to do so, the PA news agency understands.

EFL clubs are reviewing the mitigations they are taking to limit the spread, with the physio of League One club Ipswich, Matt Byard, saying a temporary suspension of play could act as a “circuit-breaker” and the club’s manager Paul Lambert concerned the system is operating “on a wing and a prayer”.

Players in the top flight have been tested on a weekly basis since the start of the 2020-21 season, but testing at clubs in tier four areas will now revert to the level used during ‘Project Restart’ in the summer. The increased testing will be widened out to clubs in lower-tier areas from next month, it is understood.

The Government placed large parts of south-east and eastern England into tier four last weekend over fears a strain of the virus is in circulation which is believed to be more transmissible than previous ones.

The Premier League clubs in tier four are Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Tottenham and

West Ham. The Premier League had said when it cut testing back to once a week at the start of the new season that it would keep testing levels under review.

The league’s latest figures were released on Monday night and showed there were seven positive cases out of 1,569 players and club staff tested.

Ipswich are one of a number of EFL clubs who have been forced to postpone matches due to a coronavirus outbreak, and physio Byard has said football “may benefit from a ‘circuit breaker”’.

Positive tests at the Portman Road outfit - including for manager Lambert - led to the postponement on Monday of their League One match at home to Northampton on Boxing Day and the trip to AFC Wimbledon on December 29.

Other EFL clubs who are experiencing similar issues include Millwall, Peterborough, Sunderland and Bristol Rovers.

Ipswich boss Lambert said: “We are, for me, getting led on a wing and a prayer with it.

“Nobody knows if we are going into games with the virus or not.”