Now five Premier Leagues games off this weekend due to Covid

The Premier League is resisting calls to suspend all matches this weekend despite a raft of Covid-related postponements in the last 48 hours.

Manchester United have had a second match inside a week postponed due to Covid-19, but the Premier League intends to press ahead with as many matches as possible (Zac Goodwin/PA)

This weekend's matches between Southampton and Brentford, Watford and Crystal Palace, West Ham and Norwich, and Everton against Leicester have all been postponed due to Covid-19 outbreaks, the Premier League has announced.

Earlier, Manchester United’s match against Brighton on Saturday was called off due to the number of Covid-19 cases in the Red Devils camp, with Thursday’s game between Leicester and Tottenham also postponed.

The number of postponed weekend matches across England’s top four divisions reached double figures by 3pm on Thursday, with the EFL announcing stricter Covid protocols including increased testing.

United are understood to have had only nine players available because of Covid and other injuries for Tuesday’s game against Brentford, which was called off late on Monday night, and just seven for the Saturday lunchtime match against Brighton at Old Trafford.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank called for all of the weekend’s top-flight matches to be postponed, with the highly-transmissible Omicron variant wreaking havoc with the schedule, but the league is currently intending to play as many games as possible.

In confirming the postponement of a second Manchester United match, the league said in a statement: “It is with regret that this is the fourth Premier League fixture to have been postponed in the past week.

“While recognising a number of clubs are experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks, it is the league’s intention to continue its current fixture schedule where safely possible. The health and wellbeing of all concerned remains our priority.”