To the relief of many football fans, professional football will continue despite the surge in Coronavirus cases, sparking the announcement of another National Lockdown earlier this week. Unlike in March, the rigorous testing procedures put in place in England’s top football clubs have allowed Premier League matches to go ahead smoothly, to a fairly large extent, providing much-needed entertainment to people who have once again been confined to the four walls of their homes.

However, despite the positivity surrounding the continuation of Premier League Football during this third national lockdown, the overall picture is looking rather grim for English football: Premier League Covid cases doubled in a week as clubs set a new record with 40 new positive tests. The latest Coronavirus outbreaks at Fulham and Manchester City among both squad and staff have led to the postponement of three Premier League Matches.

Yet, in a statement made on Tuesday, the Premier League said that: "With low numbers of positive tests across the overwhelming majority of clubs, the League continues to have confidence in its COVID-19 protocols, fully backed by the Government, to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled.”

There are increasingly loud voices, however, calling for a circuit break for the season to regain control over the spread of the Coronavirus, with the increased transmissibility of the new strain being an area of particular concern and alarm. West Brom manager Sam Allardyce, for example, raised his concerns saying: "When I listen to the news, the variant virus transmits quicker than the original virus, [so] we can only do the right thing which is have a circuit break." 

Others strongly disagree.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expressed his concerns about the logistical implications of completing this already busy season if the campaign were halted, saying "I can't see the benefit in having a circuit break, whatever it's going to be called, because when are we going to play the games?”

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, whose team is currently sitting at the top of the League table, told reporters that "it’s also important it goes on. People want to watch it."

Indeed, the ability to now watch football games during this lonely period of lockdown, a luxury that we didn’t have in March, has helped to keep many fans mentally healthy. When I asked my brother, Sami Uddin, a dedicated Liverpool supporter, about what he thought about the Premier League continuing during the lockdown he replied that "it’s nice and refreshing nowadays to watch football being played and have something to enjoy. The main thing is to keep the players and staff safe and following the rules and that is happening efficiently at the moment." 

Speaking to a player in a local football team (AFC Wandsworth) about his opinion on still being able to watch matches, he said that "nothing can really replace a kickabout on the fields, but at least it’s something."

There are those who are a bit sceptical about why something like Football in not being halted during the lockdown, yet all schools have been closed. But it is important to realise that they are two completely different entities and so cannot be looked at through the same lens. As for actual students like my brother and his friends, "school being out isn’t so bad now that the match will still be on this evening."