EPL managers to meet over COVID concerns

English Premier League managers will meet Monday to discuss the worsening coronavirus situation, which has already wiped out half of the weekend games and sidelined star soccer players.

Outbreaks at clubs underscore the worsening health emergency in Britain as the omicron variant spreads. The latest postponements — five of the weekend’s 10-match schedule — brought the total number of top-flight games called off this week to nine.

Opinions were wide-ranging regarding what steps to take from here. Some managers advocate a break in play, citing fairness. Others say the games should continue.

“There are obviously a lot of concerns and a lot of unanswered questions,” Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard said. “That’s the reason why the Premier League, on Monday, have put in place an opportunity for the managers to get together and I’m hoping there will be a lot of clarity which comes off the back of that meeting.”

The league has already reintroduced emergency measures — more frequent testing and wearing face masks indoors among them — but said its intention was to maintain the current schedule “where safely possible.”

⏩ Robert Lewandowski scored his 43rd Bundesliga goal of the year to cap a 4-0 win for Bayern over Wolfsburg and eclipse the previous best mark for goals in a calendar year set in 1972 Gerd Muller. Lewandowski broke Muller’s 49-year-old Bundesliga record for goals in a season with his 41st in May.

⏩ Forward Jordan Morris is likely to play his first U.S. national team match in more than two years when the Americans face Bosnia and Herzegovina in an exhibition on Saturday in Carson (Los Angeles County).

The player who led Stanford to the 2015 NCAA championship tore his left ACL on Feb. 20 while on loan from the Seattle Sounders to Swansea.