Manchester United's match against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday was postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak at the Old Trafford club as Covid-19's impact on Premier League grew. "It is with regret that this is the fourth Premier League fixture to have been postponed in the past week," the league said in a statement. "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." United had reported a small number of cases among first-team staff and players on Sunday. Tuesday's Premier League visit to Brentford was called off as a result, with the club stating the situation had worsened. "The health of players and staff is our priority," United said on Thursday. "Given the number of players and support staff having to isolate due to Covid-19, the club had no option other than to request the match be rearranged. The Premier League Board took the decision to postpone based on guidance from medical advisors. "We will also suspend football training operations at The Carrington Training Complex for a short period to help reduce risk of further transmission." It was the latest match in the English league to get affected by the virus. The number of postponements in the league rose to five in a week on Thursday. A growing number of infections at Leicester led to their game against Tottenham being <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2021/12/16/leicester-v-tottenham-postponed-due-to-covid-19-outbreak/" target="_blank">postponed hours before kickoff on Thursday</a>. Burnley-Watford clash was also postponed — reflecting the worsening health emergency in Britain as the omicron variant spreads. Brentford manager Thomas Frank said <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2021/12/16/thomas-frank-wants-premier-league-to-be-postponed-amid-coronavirus-threat/" target="_blank">he wants the weekend round of fixtures to be postponed</a> to allow clubs to deal with the cases. Frank was informed midway through his news conference on Thursday, ahead of Brentford’s match at Southampton on Saturday, of four more cases of the coronavirus among players and staff at the club. That took the total to 13.
