Liverpool could be denied their first ever Premier League title should the domestic season be cut short by Coronavirus.
Jurgen Klopp’s relentless winning machine equalled a domestic record on Monday by registering a 19th consecutive victory, moving to within four wins of claiming the Premier League title which has evaded them since 1990.
The rapid spread of the Coronavirus has already had ramifications in Italy where several Serie A fixtures have been postponed, or been played behind closed doors, while next week’s scheduled Six Nations clash between Ireland and the Azzurri has been postponed.
Daily Telegraph reports, there is no Premier League legislation in place relating to the season being curtailed and crisis talks would ensue were the Government to intervene and cancel all sporting events in the country for up to two months.
Liverpool currently enjoy an unprecedented 22-point lead over second placed Manchester City and are overwhelming favourites to extend that margin with a win at Watford on Saturday, with Pep Guardiola’s side set to contest the Carabao Cup final 24 hours later.
Denying Liverpool the title would undoubtedly cause major uproar but the Premier League would face a difficult decision were they to declare the Reds as champions and, at the same time, relegate the three teams currently in the drop zone.
Newcastle United have already banned shaking hands between players and staff at their training ground, while Tottenham screened journalists before Jose Mourinho’s pre-match press conference on Friday.
Asked if Liverpool were planning to change their pre-season schedule given they are planning a summer trip to Asia, Klopp told reporters: “Not yet, over pre-season we’ve not thought of changes yet. The biomedical department, all advice we get from there.
“But if you the media come in here and don’t shake hands, I’m now only two metres away from you, so whatever you have I probably can’t avoid getting it as well. We had an interview outside and were even closer.
“We take it really serious, but you can’t avoid everything. It’s not a football problem; it’s a society problem, what we all have in common, so I think everybody is thinking about it at the moment. Hopefully the people who are much smarter than us find a way to end the illness, or medicine, as that’s obviously the big problem at the moment, we don’t have that yet.”
With the virus spreading across Europe in recent days it has led to the postponement, cancellation or playing behind closed doors of different sporting events.
The recent increased spread on the continent could lead the UK government to ‘opt to cancel sporting events for two months,’ which would include at least part of the 11 games remaining in England’s top tier.
Whilst the title race is already decided what would be more complicated is working out who qualifies for the Champions League and Europa League next season, as well as the relegation places.
There is no guarantee Liverpool would be crowned Premier League champions if the season was curtailed by the Coronavirus.
There is also no guarantee the bottom three clubs would not be relegated, with no specific regulation in place governing such a scenario.
The rapid spread of the virus has raised the prospect of the Government ordering the cancellation of all sporting events in the UK for more than two months, something that could mean some fixtures never being played.
Its is likely crisis talks would take place to determine whether previous results would be allowed to stand or whether the entire campaign was rendered null and void.
Anthony Nlebem
