Thomas Tuchel has heavily criticised the Premier League organisers after Chelsea were forced to play Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday amidst the worsening COVID-19 outbreak. The Blues had requested for the game to be called off after seven of their players tested positive for the virus but were denied by the Premier League.
A Chelsea club statement read: “We are deeply disappointed that our application was rejected as we felt we had a strong case for the postponement of today’s match on the grounds of players’ health and safety.”
Before and after the match, the German coach expressed his discontent at the game going ahead, after so many other matches had been cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreaks at other top-flight clubs.
Thomas Tuchel said: “I gave my opinion. the club gave its opinion. We talk a lot about safety and about protecting the players. I’m not so sure if we did this today. It [the COVID-19 outbreak] will hopefully stop but that’s more or less hoping. If we have tomorrow the next tests and there is more positive, I would like to speak to the people from the Premier League about what they expect so let’s hope that it stops.”
As reported by David Ornstein from The Athletic, there will be an emergency meeting on Monday between the 20 Premier League clubs to discuss postponing a round of fixtures in order to quell the ongoing crisis. But Tuchel has gone a step further, suggesting Chelsea may have to boycott games if they feel the Premier League is forcing them to play unsafe fixtures.
Thomas Tuchel continued: “There’s nothing else to do. Shall we stop and not arrive at the next game if we are made to play? When they make us play against Brentford, should we not arrive? Should we not train anymore? It was clear what we wanted, and I actually don’t want to talk about it because I said my opinion already. The Premier League had an opinion, and we had a different opinion, so we agree to disagree.”
