Football’s busiest period couldn’t have come at a worse time

The Premier League has resisted calling off an entire round of matches but positive cases within clubs have seen a raft of postponements, writes Ben Burrows

Tottenham Hotspur played Crystal Palace on 26 December (Getty)

It is one of the cherished traditions of the football calendar that fans look forward to the most, with a slew of matches keeping them warm over Christmas and new year.

Boxing Day, with its packed schedule, remains one of the few untouched relics of a past era, with teams up and down the country all playing on the same day, a rarity in the modern, TV-centric game.

But the truth is, as the Omicron variant of coronavirus continues to wreak havoc all over the country, the last thing football needs right now is more matches.