The Premier League, the Carabao Cup…whatever the competition, the only real topic in England is Covid. Not only that the Premier League is the only league in Europe without a winter break, but UK is also one of the countries most affected by the new Covid breed Omicron. And with a record 90 positive Covid cases in the league, teams are crippled and many of them are having problems putting out a decent team on the field. Still, the league has recently decided, after a long meeting, not to reschedule the Round 20, between 28th and 30th of December, and off course, a winter break is out of the question. Busy schedule and most of all, TV money were again the main factors, and that’s something the players are not appreciating.🚨 NEW: Jordan Henderson has says he is concerned that “nobody really takes player welfare seriously.”“I don’t think people can appreciate how intense it is until you actually see it first hand. I am concerned that nobody really takes player welfare seriously.” #awlive [bbc] pic.twitter.com/CAicaOWwX1— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) December 22, 2021 And one of the most vocal players out there is Liverpool’s captain Jordan Henderson. Reds midfielder called a captains meeting during the European Super League revolt and now he spoke again, ahead of Leicester clash in the Carabao Cup quarter-final.„Football to us is everything and we want to be able to perform at the highest level every time we set foot on the pitch. And unfortunately, in this period it is difficult to do that. That has been like this for a few years now and it has been difficult but then, on top of that, you chuck in Covid and it becomes even harder and even worse. I am concerned that nobody really takes player welfare seriously. I think decisions get made – of course we want to play as footballers, we want to get out there and play – but I am worried about player welfare and I don’t think anybody does take that seriously enough, especially in this period, when Covid is here. We will try to have conversations in the background and try to have some sort of influence going forward, but at the minute I don’t feel the players get the respect they deserve in terms of having somebody being able to speak for them independently and having the power to say actually this isn’t right for player welfare” said Reds skipper to BBC.Klopp fumes: “My only problem is you, Mr Tierney”And off course, he has his boss backing. Jurgen Klopp is famous for his clear messages over Covid, vaccination and Christmas schedule and he delivered again.„December will always be crazy. Everything is fine until you reach Christmas. The 26/28th is still not right to play. We accept that, we play, it’s tradition but it’s really tough. January is not better and the more successful we are in cups, it’s the same. So it is a difficult two months ahead“ said Klopp.The best football in England continues with the upcoming Christmas fixturesLeicester are one of the teams with big Covid outbreak. The Foxes’s training center was closed for 48 hours following the postponement of the game against Tottenham, and the duel with Everton was also postponed due Covid outbreak. A total of 13 players were spotted at the training session, including Ayoze Perez and Jannik Vestergaard, who were on the list of seven players to miss the trip to Italy in the Europa League two weeks ago.”It feels like it’s been a long time since Leicester’s last game. We had be at home for some days so it feels so long. Now we have a game coming up, but we haven’t really trained properly together. It feels a little bit better now, but as a group, everyone is not yet back. The confidence is here. When you think back to that amazing feeling of winning the FA Cup, it is something we have in our minds that we can achieve things together as a group. We’ve done it and it we can still do it. We’ve done it before and we can do it. It all depends on us to actually be at our best in every single game” said Nigerian Wilfred Ndidi. Carabao Cup – Quarter FinalsTuesdayArsenal – Sunderland 5-1 (2-1)/Nketiah 17, 49, 58, Pepe 27, Patino 90+3 – Broadhead 31/Wednesday22:45 Brentford – Chelsea22:45 Liverpool – Leicester City22:45 Tottenham – West Ham United
