(Football news) The rising COVID-19 cases continue to plague the Premier League with fixtures between Liverpool vs Leeds and Wolves vs Watford postponed due to the number of positive cases at the clubs. The Premier League said that the Leeds game could not go ahead “due to the number of players with Covid-19, injuries and illness".

Everton’s match against Burnley will be one of the few fixtures that will take place this weekend with manager Rafael Benitez saying he was “surprised” that the game was going ahead. After the game [against Chelsea] we found that we have five positives," said Benitez. "With the injuries and the positives that we had, we were expecting that the game would be postponed like in a lot of games. Now I have to think if I have 11 players fit and where I can put them. I am really surprised we are playing this game."

Everton’s situation is dire to say the least, the club have only nine outfield players, five youngsters and three goalkeepers available for selection and Rafael Benitez might be forced to include Dominic Calvert-Lewin who has not played a game in four months due to injury. In the most recent COVID-19 testing in the Premier League, 90 positive cases were reported and clubs were advised that if they have 13 fit players and a goalkeeper, they will be required to fulfill their fixture obligations.

A Premier League statement read: "Watford continue to have an insufficient number of players to field a team after their game against Crystal Palace last Saturday was postponed following a Covid-19 outbreak. Due to players coming out of isolation, it is fully expected Watford will be available for their fixture on Tuesday 28 December, against West Ham United."

Leeds said there had been "five new positive Covid-19 cases within the first-team squad and staff" and they have closed their training ground. The Elland Road club added: "All of the cases we have experienced are asymptomatic which we believe is due to our high vaccine take-up. The positive cases, combined with our well documented injury issues, means that we would not have enough recognised first-team players to meet the Premier League requirements for the fixture. The training ground at Thorp Arch will be closed for a period of two days on the advice of Public Health England."

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