Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish believes Gary Neville is “bang on” with his comments about a potential Premier League circuit breaker.
There has been a rise in positive coronavirus tests in recent weeks, with 18 new positives in the latest round of testing – the highest number since the programme began.
Manchester City’s game against Everton on Monday was postponed after an outbreak at City’s training ground, while Fulham’s trip to Tottenham on Wednesday was also called off hours before kick-off with Fulham reporting a number of positive tests.
As a result, there has been talk that a circuit breaker should be introduced in an attempt to avoid further rises.
However, Neville believes the circuit breaker would not have the desired effect, writing on Twitter : “Can we please get this two week circuit breaker thing off the table.
“The players would have to carry on mixing and training to be ready in 2 weeks for a match. They may get 4-5 days off. What is that going to do. Would have to be a long break to do anything meaningful!”
Grealish was among those to reply to Neville and he agrees with the pundit’s assessment, simply writing: “Bang on!!”
The interaction took place ahead of the announcement that Fulham’s clash with Tottenham had been suspended but the Premier League’s official statement on the situation has hinted that there will not be a circuit breaker.
The statement read: “The match between Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham, due to be played at 18:00 GMT this evening, has been postponed following a Premier League Board meeting this afternoon.
“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.
“The Premier League Board has consulted its medical advisors and the decision to postpone the game has been taken as a precaution and with the health of players and staff as the priority. The group will now be retested immediately.
“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 wishes those with COVID-19 a safe and speedy recovery and will rearrange the postponed fixture between Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham in due course.”