Arsenal’s midweek clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers has been postponed by the Premier League due to COVID-19. The Gunners were scheduled to host Wolves at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, December 28, and the postponement announcement has been made early to inform supporters in advance.

In a statement, the Premier League announced that it had postponed the fixture at the request of Wolves, who do not have the requisite number of players (13 outfield players and one goalkeeper) to field a team. Wolves have several players out with injuries or down with COVID-19, and this is their second game to be postponed. Earlier, the Premier League had postponed Wolves’ Boxing Day fixture against Watford.

Hours earlier, the Premier League had announced its decision to postpone Leeds’ midweek home fixture against Aston Villa due to similar reasons. Leeds put out a statement saying that while there had been no new COVID-19 cases at the club, players who had already contracted the virus were still in isolation and that there were not enough first-team players to fulfil the Premier League’s requirements. This marks the second Leeds game that has been postponed due to COVID-19, their Boxing Day fixture against Liverpool being the other one.

With the omicron variant driving a spike in COVID-19 cases in the UK, the Premier League has gone into crisis. The streak of postponements began on matchday 16, which saw Brighton’s game against Tottenham postponed. Matchday 17 saw three postponements, followed by six postponements on Matchday 18. The Boxing Day weekend (matchday 19) saw three postponements, and now two games scheduled for matchday 20 have been postponed.

Several managers have criticised the Premier League for its decision to continue the season despite the uptick in COVID-19 cases in the country, citing risks to the health and safety of players and staff.