According to the newspaper, the London Evening Standard, the arrival of coronavirus testing kits, which were supposed to behave been allocated to clubs in the division has been delayed.
This means that the teams who lack the facilities to test players for the disease would not be able to comply with the necessary health and safety instructions stipulated by the so-called “Project Restart” plan, which aims to facilitate the resumption of matches by mid-June.
The Premier League has been suspended since March over fears that the coronavirus could pose a threat to the health and safety of players and fans alike, but the division’s administrators remain confident that play can get back underway, but many hurdles aside from the lack of testing kits still need to be overcome.
Talks between Premier League teams over the potential use of neutral grounds also remain in a deadlock, and a vote that was supposed to take place on the matter earlier this week has been postponed due to fears that it would be roundly rejected.
Professional football clubs throughout Europe have until the 25th of May to clarify their plans to the continent’s governing body, UEFA, but so far only the German Bundesliga looks certain to officially return to action.
If the Premier League cannot get its coronavirus testing infrastructure in place before June, and no consensus over the neutral venue issue can be found, then it is possible that the English top-flight season will have to be abruptly terminated.
These include rendering the season “null and void”, calculating the final positions based on mathematical algorithms, or simply ending the league with the current standings in place.
All of these scenarios could prove problematic to clubs in both the upper and lower echelons of the Premier League.