COVID FEARS
Tuchel wary of top-flight spike after Pulisic positive Arteta: We were forced to play after outbreak
THOMAS TUCHEL has warned the Premier League should be braced for more Covid-19 outbreaks after Christian Pulisic became the latest player to test positive. But the Chelsea boss will not urge his squad to get the vaccine. Before hosting the Blues tomorrow, Mikel Arteta claimed Arsenal’s season-opener at Brentford should have been postponed after four
players – including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – failed tests. Ruben LoftusCheek was ruled out of Chelsea’s match with Crystal Palace last week while Norwich and Tottenham had pre-seasons disrupted by coronavirus.
Asked if Covid-19 could hit the season, Tuchel said: “This is possible any time this virus comes back and spreads with any variations and harms society and social life. Of course it is also a possibility in football.”
Brighton manager Graham Potter has urged his players to get vaccinated after a family member died of the virus.
But Tuchel said: “I think I am not in the role to tell my players and recommend strongly to my players to get vaccinated. I am vaccinated twice.A lot of my players are too. Christian [Pulisic] is also. But this is clearly the recommendation
from the doctors and the medical department and they are in charge of that.”
Arsenal’s plea to postpone the Brentford clash was rejected by the league after Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Alex Runarsson and Willian were ruled out.
Arteta said: “Am I surprised it wasn’t postponed? Yes, I was surprised, but the regulators decided that the best thing to do was to play the game.
“For me it was simple, my best players have Covid, they cannot play, and I have to put a team out there that’s unprecedented in this league and take all the pressure.”
Aubameyang has now tested negative and will return to full training in time for his fitness to be assessed ahead of the game but Lacazette is still out.