The Premier League organizers had to schedule a new match for Tottenham in the middle of this week after coach Jose Mourinho pressured them.
Mourinho does not want Tottenham “dead” at the end of the season
As scheduled, Tottenham will be a guest of Aston Villa in the 18th round of the Premier League on Wednesday night (UK time). However, this match has been postponed because Aston Villa “toang”. According to British media, Villa’s first team has 14 people with Covid-19, including 10 players and they were forced to close the training ground from the weekend.
In the FA Cup, Aston Villa accepted to use the U23 squad to play against Liverpool to avoid a congested schedule. However, the Premier League is a much more important tournament, and Villa asked the organizers to postpone the match against Tottenham because there was not enough squad to play.
In that context, coach Jose Mourinho soon reminded the Premier League to schedule Tottenham instead of asking them to take another break. The London team was postponed at the last minute in the Premier League round of 16 because Fulham broke out. They are expected to postpone another game – still with Fulham next April because they are busy playing the Carabao Cup final against Man City.
According to The Athletic, the Premier League can not let the games backlog too much, because they need to complete the season on time, thereby ensuring the European football associations prepare for EURO 2020.
Tonight, the Premier League has officially pushed the match between Tottenham and Fulham to replace the match between Aston Villa and Tottenham. This is considered the most reasonable option, despite Fulham’s dissatisfaction. Scott Parker’s team just had to plow 120 minutes in the FA Cup. The match between Fulham and Chelsea in round 19 was also pushed back 1 day, from Friday night to Saturday (UK time).
Thus, Tottenham will play at home, welcoming Fulham at Wednesday, 20:15 on January 13, while the match between Fulham and Chelsea will take place at Saturday, 17:30 on January 16. Aston Villa vs Everton at Sunday, 12:00 on January 16.
Before the Premier League’s decision, coach Mourinho reiterated this request from the organizers to create conditions for Tottenham to play. After winning Marine in the FA Cup, the Portuguese coach was asked what day he expected the next Tottenham game to take place, and he replied quickly: “Wednesday”.
When asked about the risk of postponing the match with Aston Villa, Mourinho harshly said: “Nobody told me that the game will not take place, and therefore, tomorrow morning, Tuesday morning we will practice. prepare to go on the pitch ”.
