Brendan Rodgers Accuses Premier League of Bias Over Covid Postponements
Brendan Rodgers, the manager of Leicester City, has accused the Premier League of demonstrating favoritism against his opponents and being unfairly influenced by media corporations after the refusal of a request to postpone tonight’s game against Tottenham Hotspur.
Leicester’s match against Tottenham tonight will go on despite the fact that Rodgers will be without up to 11 players due to coronavirus-related difficulties and injuries. Rodgers feels the injuries are a result of the burden being placed on his players.
Tottenham’s league match against Brighton was postponed on Sunday due to a Covid outbreak, while Manchester United’s match against Brentford was postponed on Monday.
However, Norwich manager Dean Smith said on Tuesday that his team struggled to contact league authorities about their worries about Covid before their loss to Aston Villa.
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The Premier League board makes postponement decisions on a case-by-case basis and, although teams must have 14 players available, it considers medical advice, accessibility of the training field, and if the epidemic is deemed under control.
When asked whether he believed the Premier League has opened itself up to exhibiting prejudice against specific teams, Rodgers said,
“I believe you are correct. It’s necessary for the competition’s integrity, but I’m rather certain that games would have been called off if clubs had fewer players unavailable than we have.”
Rodgers responded to a question about whether Spurs had been given an edge, despite their own difficulties, by saying, “100%, sure.”
Rodgers thinks that the fact that a lot of this week’s games are being shown live on TV has played a role in whether games have been postponed.
