Premier League Has 'Full Confidence' Season Will Continue Despite Postponements

The Premier League announced it intends to carry on with the 2020-21 season as planned despite the recent postponements of some fixtures because of coronavirus outbreaks within multiple teams. 

"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," the league said Wednesday while confirming a match between Tottenham and Fulham was postponed.

Fulham said it had multiple players and first-team coaches test positive for COVID-19 and thus would be unable to travel to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Wednesday's match.

Monday's match between Everton and Manchester City was also postponed because City had "a number of positive cases, in addition to the four already reported on Christmas Day."

Upon resuming last season in June following a suspension of play that began in March, the Premier League didn't experience too many COVID-19-related problems—certainly not to the scale of major American sports leagues.

However, the league announced the most recent round of testing yielded 18 positive tests, the most since testing began. All players and personnel will now be tested twice weekly, a schedule which had been previously reserved only for those clubs in the hardest-hit regions of the UK.

The Telegraph's Mike McGrath and Jason Burt reported Tuesday some clubs have considered pushing for a two-week break in the current season to help mitigate the spread of the virus.