West Ham v Man City is POSTPONED as the Women’s Super League faces Covid chaos

Manchester City’s match at West Ham in the Women’s Super League has been called off after four players tested positive for coronavirus following a Christmas break in Dubai.

The top tier of the women’s game is braced for further postponements after Arsenal also requested their game at Aston Villa is suspended due to a Covid outbreak.

Three of Arsenal’s first-team  players enjoyed a winter break in the United Arab Emirates and one of them tested positive for Covid on their return. Other squad members have been isolating as a precaution.

The postponements in the women’s game will only add to the pressure on football, after high profile breaches of Covid rules in the men’s competition.

Male players from five Premier League clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, provoked fury across the country when they ignored strict Covid rules and attended and organised parties during the festive season.

Those actions  prompted Government to consider shutting down elite sport as part of Boris Johnson’s national lockdown announced earlier this week and a meeting was called by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden on Monday to remind football authorities of their responsibilities.

In addition, senior figures in the game, public health experts and a broadcaster that screens top flight football have condemned the actions of players who have ignored rules. 

Forty players and staff tested positive for the virus in the latest rounds of Premier League testing this week – more than double the week before – three games have been called off in the top tier and more than 50 matches have been postponed in the EFL with fears of more to come in the FA Cup third-round this weekend. 

Manchester City’s female players affected by Covid have not been named. The players visited UAE with the club’s permission prior to the national lockdown, according to the Telegraph, when Manchester was under Tier 3 restrictions and overseas travel was permitted under Government guidelines.

Dubai was among the countries with a permitted travel corridor to the United Kingdom. 

The Arsenal players made the trip to the UAE after London had gone into Tier 4 the week before Christmas Day, having played in the 4-0 victory against Everton on December 20, the club’s final game before the festive period. 

Arsenal’s game at Aston Villa is also under threat due to a coronavirus outbreak 

The Telegraph claimed team mates were furious at the decision to travel and a club investigation concluded their trips were made for ‘business reasons’, no further action has been deemed necessary, but the players have been reminded of their responsibilities.

That did not stop former Arsenal striker Ian Wright taking to Twitter to question the trip and the club’s decision to request a postponement.

Wright tweeted: “So we [are] asking for a postponement because we broke the rules??!! Players have every right to be upset but why should Villa be punished? Play the game.”

Ian Wright questioned why Arsenal seek a postponement after their players went to Dubai

And former West Ham and Liverpool manager Matt Beard added: “100 per cent agree with this. As professional footballers during this tough time for so many the rules must be followed. Like Man City, Arsenal should play the game.”

The Professional Footballers’ ssociation has issued a statement warning players that breaking Covid rules at this ‘critical stage of the pandemic’ will be hugely damaging for the game.

‘In a close-knit football environment, the ramifications of any rule breaches are potentially hugely damaging for fellow players, clubs and the game as a whole,’ the PFA said in a statement.