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<\/p>\nIt's a season that's so far delivered one of the more intriguing title races – just six points separate the top nine teams – but with the UK grappling with a significant spike in Covid-19 cases, the English Premier League is facing a major challenge in how it navigates the remainder of the 2020\/2021 campaign.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the Premier League announced 18 new positive Covid-19 tests among players and club staff in its latest round of testing.<\/p>\n
That's the highest number of positive tests recorded since the league began weekly testing at the start of the current season.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the match between Everton and Manchester City was postponed because of a Covid-19 outbreak at the latter club which included positive tests for players Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n
Monday's postponement was the second match to be have been affected by Covid-19 this season – Newcastle's game at Aston Villa was also postponed after a number of players and staff at the north-east club returned positive test results.<\/p>\n
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Later on Wednesday, the Premier League announced a third postponement – the game between Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham, which was slated to be played at 6 p.m. local time."<\/p>\n
"Fulham lodged a request with the Premier League Board to rearrange the fixture following a significant rise in positive COVID-19 cases, as well as a number of players showing symptoms today," said a Premier League statement.<\/p>\n
"With low numbers of positive tests across the overwhelming majority of clubs, the Premier League continues to have full confidence in its COVID-19 protocols and being able to continue to play our fixtures as scheduled."<\/p>\n
Fulham manager Scott Parker missed its previous game as he was self-isolating following a positive Covid-19 test in his household but announced he would return to the dugout for the Spurs game before its postponement.<\/p>\n
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New West Bromwich Albion manager Sam Allardyce, who was appointed earlier in December, has called for a temporary halt to the Premier League season amid the rising number of positive test results.<\/p>\n
"Everyone's safety is more important than anything else. When I listen to the news the variant virus transmits quicker than the original … we can only do the right thing which is have a circuit break," Allardyce told reporters after his side's 5-0 defeat by Leeds United on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
"I'm 66 and the last thing I want to do is catch COVID. I'm very concerned for myself and football … We had one positive this week and it seems to be creeping around no matter how hard we try."<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl had to stay in touch with his team from home via a video link for the goalless draw with West Ham on Tuesday after a member of his household tested positive for coronavirus.<\/p>\n
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The UK recorded 53,135 coronavirus cases on Tuesday, breaking its daily record since the pandemic began for a second day in a row.<\/p>\n
A further 414 people have died, according to the British government.<\/p>\n
The UK is also battling a new variant of the virus which spreads more quickly than the others and has forced increased restrictions over the festive period.<\/p>\n
However, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says a break would place more pressure on teams given the number of games still to be played and the rescheduled European Championships in the summer.<\/p>\n
United has another 23 leagues to play and is involved in three other competition, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Europa League.<\/p>\n
"It's not something I've thought about a lot … I think we, as a club and a group, our players have been really, really good following the protocols and rules, I have to praise them," Solskjaer told the media after Manchester United's 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.<\/p>\n
![\"Knee](\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2020\/12\/331513\/pickerImage.jpg\")
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"That's part of the job here, that we as clubs follow the protocols that we have been given. I can't see the benefit in having a circuit breaker or whatever it is going to be called because when are we going to play the games?<\/p>\n
"We all know it's so difficult this year but if you just stop more games I don't think that's going to make a big, big change. It might be a longer one than that and when do we finish the season?"<\/p>\n
The Premier League declined comment when asked by CNN as to whether the competitive balance of English football's top-flight was being affected by the uptick in Covid-19 positive tests among multiple players and staff.<\/p>\n
– This article originally appeared on CNN.com and is reproduced here with permission<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"