(Reuters) – COVID-19 cases and injuries at Everton forced the Premier League to accept the club’s request for a postponement and called of their Boxing Day fixture away at Burnley, the league said on Friday.
It is the 13th Premier League game to be called off due to COVID-19 and third Boxing Day fixture to be postponed after Liverpool v Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers v Watford were called off on Thursday.
Everton manager Rafael Benitez said on Thursday that his club had a request to postpone Sunday’s match rejected by the Premier League, adding it was unfair as he had six injuries and five players down with COVID-19.
“The Board reviewed the club’s request today to postpone the match following further injuries to their squad,” the Premier League said in a statement.
“They concluded that the club will not be able to fulfil their fixture this weekend as a result of an insufficient number of players available to play due to COVID-19 cases and injuries.”
Burnley are in 18th place on 11 points from 15 matches while Everton are in 14th spot on 19 points from 17 games.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)
