Premier League football is set to continue despite Boris Johnson announcing a new national lockdown.
The Prime Minister has this evening confirmed (Monday) that England will be entering another national lockdown, with people urged to stay at home amid a growing number of coronavirus cases with a new variant spreading across the country.
However, while schools and many workplaces will be closed as a result of the tougher restrictions being imposed, the Premier League and English Football League, together with other elite sports, will continue.
As a result, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Fulham, West Ham and the other Premier League sides will be able to continue playing over the coming weeks.
Similar to the first lockdown in 2020, UK residents are being asked to remain at home whenever possible to protect the National Health Service.
The Prime Minister's announcement came after the UK's COVID alert level was raised from Level 4 to Level 5, the highest possible, for the first time.
However, despite a third national shut down, professional football will continue to operate as normal, unlike in 2020 where all competitions were suspended for a three-month period.
The Premier League and English Football League will continue despite ongoing discussions over a potential circuit breaker with a large rise in COVID-19 cases amongst clubs. Grassroots and academy matches will be cancelled, however.
England's top-flight reiterated in their latest statement that there were no plans to pause the fixtures schedule, despite several fixtures being called off.
Fulham’s games at Tottenham and Burnley plus Manchester City's trip to Everton have been postponed in the past week while the EFL has been hit by a raft of games being called off amid fears about the FA Cup third round this weekend.
There are fears that the Premier League would face paying further rebates to TV broadcasters after they were forced to shell out £330million for the 2019/20 season.
