Liverpool Football Club ‘cited a mixture of illness, injury and COVID’ when making a request to the EFL to postpone their League Cup clash with Arsenal.
This comes from club correspondent Paul Gorst, with the Reds’ first meeting with the Gunners set to take place on 13th January with the home advantage handed to Mikel Arteta’s men on 20th.
“Further tests taken this week only saw the situation exasperate as it all came to a head on Tuesday,” the reporter wrote for the Echo.
“First, the club were forced to shelve plans for the 4pm training session at the AXA Centre in Kirkby after Monday was spent acting as a recovery day for those involved at Chelsea.
“The training ground did remain open at least, even if for less than a further 24 hours.
“By Tuesday afternoon, Liverpool had taken the decision to ask for a postponement of their last-four tie with Arsenal on Thursday.
“The Reds cited a mixture of illness, injury and COVID for their inability to field a team and after fighting their way to the last four of the Carabao Cup for the first time in five years, Liverpool were loath to toss away their good results by attempting to play on.
“Also, that was simply not an option with the health and safety of everyone within the ranks at the forefront of the decision making.”
Jurgen Klopp’s men are set to take on Shrewsbury in the FA Cup at the weekend, though there will be serious doubts about the tie going ahead in light of the latest outbreak of COVID-19.
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As far as combined factors are concerned, we’ve had little in the way of fortune with the availability of key men suffering.
A break from fixtures would benefit us beyond the isolation period, with the likes of Thiago Alcantara and Divock Origi remaining sidelined due to injury concerns.
We can only hope that a fixture pile-up doesn’t follow as a result of the latest COVID update and we’ll be wishing the squad and staff a speedy recovery.
Injury and illness are or rather should be irrelevant to the request. As I understand it the ‘law’ they appleales in line with was specific to Covid. Backroom staffvare also irrelevant to fielding a team. Yet again Liverpool have pulled sway over fair play for ALL clubs! Last season Orient were recorded a 3-0 loss to Spurs for less absentees
Arsenal for ever