Leicester’s home game with Crystal Palace could be postponed after the city was put back into lockdown, with Premier League clubs on standby to take their matches to neutral grounds
- Leicester’s lockdown has been extended due to a regional coronavirus flare-up
- There are concerns over whether their game at the weekend can be played there
A regional flare-up of coronavirus cases means Leicester will not emerge from parts of lockdown as swiftly as the rest of England – and it has been announced that stricter measures will be reinstated in the process.
As pubs, restaurants and cafes get ready to reopen across the country from Saturday, residents in Leicester have been told to stay at home, with schools and shops to shut this week. This is compared to other parts of the country, where this week will see lockdown loosened even further. Premier League chief Richard Masters admitted he is unsure of what will be done
The English top flight has played 27 of the 92 fixtures that remained when the season was suspended but Leicester City are now unclear whether they can play Saturday’s game against Crystal Palace at their King Power Stadium.
Masters is confident they will be able to hold the fixtures – whether at a neutral venue or postponed until a later date – but did admit that restarting the season was not as big of an issue as getting through the rest of the games.
He told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee on Tuesday morning: ‘We’ve had a long discussion with authorities about neutral venues.
‘If what happens in Leicester does impact the club’s ability to host games, either Crystal Palace or later, we have the ability to host those games elsewhere or postpone them until it is safe to do so. ‘On next season, we have broken the boundary of playing football matches behind closed doors when the whole country is effected by COVID.
‘That has been the hardest part. Next season needs to happen as well.’
‘I’m yet to understand what impact the partial lockdown will have on the club. It demonstrates the fragile project we have on here.
‘Restarting is one thing. Finishing the season is the real prize.’
Masters went on to admit there were no guarantees that the 2019-20 campaign would be concluded if the virus develops in an unexpected manner.
‘There is always that possibility, yes,’ he added. ‘We are dependent on the course of the virus and government’s decisions around that.
‘We are cautiously optimistic and what has happened in Leicester overnight is something we are responding to.
‘We have been adapting for a while to neutral venues. We are ready to adapt to what happened in Leicester.
‘If that happened in multiple areas, there is that risk that we might not be able to complete the season.
‘We have to get to the end of the season and the end of July, look to 2020-21 and get fans back into the stadium and hopefully help the economy recover.
‘But that is all dependent on the course of the virus.’ ‘
A spike in infections in Leicester means the city has three times more cases than the city with the next highest total.
