Chelsea have seen an official request to have their game against Wolverhampton Wanderers Saturday rejected by the Premier League amid a COVID outbreak among the Blues squad.
The Blues are set to face Wolves at Molineux at 2pm, one of only four fixtures currently scheduled to take place out of 10 this weekend.
According to the Telegraph, the rejection came on Sunday morning, just hours before kick-off.
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Manchester United v Brighton, Aston Villa v Burnley, Southampton v Brentford, Watford v Crystal Palace, West Ham v Norwich and Everton v Leicester – the latter also set for Sunday afternoon – have already been called off.
The Omicron variant of coronavirus is currently sweeping through the division and English football more widely, with numerous clubs suffering outbreaks and being forced to close their training grounds.
Wolves manager Bruno Lage revealed earlier this week that every single player wants to take the Covid-19 booster jab, making them one of the most vaccinated squads in the league, along with Leeds.
But with the match set to go ahead despite Chelsea’s troubles, boss Tuchel may now reportedly be forced to put unfit players on the substitutes’ bench to fill out his depleted squad.
For their last clash, against Everton, the German was only able to name eight players among the reserves, two of them goalkeepers.
Ben Chilwell, Mateo Kovacic, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku were all absent either through injury or illness, with Tuchel potentially being forced to turn to academy prospects to put on the bench.
