Thomas Tuchel has hit out at the Premier League for exposing his coronavirus-hit Chelsea side to “huge risk” by forcing them to play at Wolves on Sunday as leaders Manchester City thrashed relegation-threatened Newcastle.
Chelsea were only able at best to manage a 0-0 draw at Molineux while League leaders City romped with apparent ease to a 4-0 away win before Tottenham held 10-man Liverpool to a 2-2 draw, also denting the Reds’ title hopes.
Despite the exciting actions on the pitch, the main attention had deflected onto the nation’s worsening Covid-19 crisis, with just four games played in total out of 10 originally scheduled.
Premier League clubs will now meet on Monday to discuss the appropriate plan of action to take over the increasing chaos, with growing questions over the integrity and welfare of the competition as the busy festive period draws close, with the Athletic reporting that clubs would discuss the possibility of postponing an entire round of fixtures on December 28, 29 and 30 in an attempt to ease the pressure.
Chelsea, who had earlier prior to kick-off had their request for a postponement rejected, could only field 14 outfield players in their match-day squad on Sunday, with N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Trevoh Chalobah all featuring despite struggling for match fitness.
“We were put in a huge risk of health and safety to the players, not just because of Covid but also physically,” said an angry Tuchel, whose side most disappointingly had only one shot on target.
Tuchel, with his team in an impasse and now six points behind leaders City, said he did not know what would happen with Chelsea’s fixtures against Brentford in the League Cup and Aston Villa in the coming week.
“I’ve got no idea what happens now,” he said. “We had an idea (on Saturday evening) what’s going to happen, but then that didn’t happen.”