Premier League managers offer their view on impact of Omicron crisis

The English Premier Lleague has ruled out a 'pause' to the season to allow clubs to recover their squads, although the surging Omicron variant has put paid to half of the weekend's fixtures including Manchester United's home game with Brighton & Hove Albion.

Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp said he "hoped" the Tottenham game would go ahead but did not sound too optimistic.

"It's a really tricky situation. Nobody knows exactly how we'll be tomorrow," the German said on Thursday.

"I've never had three players on matchday pull out. The most important thing is because the boys are vaccinated they will not feel it really. That's good. We have to wait for them.

"Should we stop the league? I have no real answer for it. If you stop it for two weeks and we come back, I really don't know what to do. There are plenty of questions we need to find answers for but I don't have the solution."

Chelsea's surprise home draw with Everton left them four points behind City and Thomas Tuchel's side face a tough task at Wolves, who sit eighth after a midweek win at Brighton.

Asked if the title race should be put on hold while the protagonists deal with COVID infections, Tuchel said he did not want to get involved in sports politics.