Liverpool vs Leeds United, Watford vs Wolverhampton Premier League games off due to COVID-19 Omicron outbreak

Premier League have postponed Boxing Day matches involving Liverpool and Leeds United due to COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo: Reuters)

COVID-19 outbreaks at Leeds and Watford have led to two Premier League matches scheduled for Sunday being postponed. Leeds was due to travel to Liverpool and Watford was set to play at Wolverhampton as part of the Boxing Day program.

The Premier League has now called off 12 matches due to COVID-19 issues in two weeks. “The league is aware that the decision to postpone these two matches will disappoint supporters and understands their frustrations at a special time of year when fans look forward to attending and watching football games,” the Premier League said in a statement on Thursday (December 23).

The Leeds training ground has been closed to contain the spread of the COVID-19, with five new positive cases among the squad and staff reported on Thursday. “All of the cases we have experienced are asymptomatic which we believe is due to our high vaccine take-up,” Leeds said.

“The positive cases, combined with our well-documented injury issues, means that we would not have enough recognized first-team players to meet the Premier League requirements for the fixture.”

Following postponement requests from @LUFC and @WatfordFC as a result of COVID-19, the Premier League Board met this morning and regrettably agreed to call off the two affected clubs' Boxing Day fixtures

Full statement: https://t.co/icqowbeWY8 #LIVLEE #WOLWAT pic.twitter.com/WoDSf9x3ZB

— Premier League (@premierleague) December 23, 2021

Watford told the league that with players coming out of isolation it expects to be able to play West Ham on Tuesday. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Britain, where the omicron variant is now dominant, have surged by almost 60 per cent in a week.

Ten-man Porto trample Benfica 3-0 to advance in Portuguese Cup

Porto’s Brazilian striker Evanilson scored twice and was sent off in the first half as they beat visitors Benfica 3-0 in a frantic clash to reach the Portuguese Cup quarter-finals. Braga, who beat Benfica in last season`s final, suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Vizela after an early goal by Nuno Moreira.

Porto had their first sell-out crowd of over 50,000 at the Dragao Stadium since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with the fans ecstatic as their team scored twice in seven minutes. Evanilson opened the scoring in the first minute, pouncing on a loose ball inside the area to fire past Helton Leite.

Vitinha got the second six minutes later with a clever shot after a corner and Evanilson struck again to finish a counter-attack and extend Porto’s lead half an hour into the game. But the 22-year-old got a second yellow card just before halftime after catching Joao Mario in the face with his arm.

The hosts managed to hold onto their comfortable lead and eased to victory to eliminate last season’s runners-up, who had Nicolas Otamendi sent off late on for a foul on Luis Diaz.

(with agencies inputs)