Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has called on the Premier League to be more transparent in decisions about postponing matches due to COVID-19, after Leicester City’s Premier League game at Everton was called off on Sunday.
Leicester had an exhausted squad due to COVID-19 cases, injuries and internationally-serving players at the Africa Cup of Nations. This is the 19th Premier League game to be postponed this season.
“I doubt you can postpone a game because of the Africa Cup of Nations, that would be a big surprise,” Tuchel told reporters before Chelsea traveled to Tottenham Hotspur for the semi-final second leg. of the League Cup on Wednesday.
“All the details of the settlement, I have to admit, I don’t know them. Transparency helps most of the time and in these positions it would help people understand why… It would be good for everyone. “
Liverpool’s semi-final first leg against Arsenal last week was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak, but manager Juergen Klopp said it included many false positives, with Trent Alexander-Arnold the only case confirmed.
“I believe so and people will find out. It can happen. We had a false test in Wolverhampton, a false result of a test to send Jorginho straight home, ”Tuchel said.
Chelsea had asked to postpone their league game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on December 19 after seven positive cases exhausted their squad, but the request was rejected.
“When we got to Wolverhampton we had one big case and we actually had seven positive ones, which were positive. We thought we had the possibility of postponing a match, ”added Tuchel.
“Decisions have been made. You know my opinion on this but I will not comment on other club situations. We fought, we can still fight anytime like anyone can. “
Tuchel added that he would be making a late decision on the availability of Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante, who missed the first leg of the semi-final after testing positive for COVID-19 last week.
Chelsea took control of the draw after winning the first leg 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
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