Covid fixture chaos, Rob Holding signs new deal, Cavani case rumbles on
The Athletic FC Podcast
The Athletic
4.0 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 11 January 2021
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mark Chapman is joined by The Athletic's David Ornstein and Adam Crafton with news of the latest covid-induced fixture headache as Spurs v Fulham is rearranged at the last minute to replace the game Spurs were due to have against Aston Villa, and we consider the overall picture for the Premier League moving forward as cases continue to rise across the country.
There's also news of Arsenal's Rob Holding signing a new contract just months after he was heading for the exit door at the Emirates, we have detail on Tottenham's interest in Stuttgart's Nicolas Gonzalez, plus there's fallout from the Edinson Cavani disciplinary case as the Uruguayan players association continue to defend Cavani's reputation.
We also hear from The Athletic's West Brom correspondent Steve Madeley with the inside track on Matheus Pereira's situation at the Hawthorns as tension grows over his desire to sign a new and improved contract.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic |
| 0:02.7 | Hello, welcome to the Unseen and Chapman podcast on The Athletic, as usual. |
| 0:11.6 | We'll bring you exclusive insight and stories from our team of writers. |
| 0:16.4 | David with us as ever, as is the athletics. Adam Crafton. |
| 0:21.4 | We're going to really go through a lot of David's weekly column this week |
| 0:24.6 | and also look at some of the other top stories from across the athletic. |
| 0:29.1 | COVID starts the whole thing, which if you're listening, we will do it. |
| 0:33.9 | Yeah, I promise there are, there is plenty of other stuff on the way. |
| 0:39.7 | But what's quite interesting, and this is the top item in your column, that now, with games being postponed because of COVID, teams might have to start being a bit more flexible with their fixture list. |
| 0:51.9 | Well, I started to get news on Sunday evening while I was pulling the Monday column together. |
| 0:56.2 | From speaking to a number of contacts across the industry, |
| 0:58.9 | that there was quite a bit of chaos going on behind the scenes. |
| 1:02.3 | Talks were taking place at that very moment in time. |
| 1:05.2 | An idea from the Premier League to move Aston Villa's fixture against Tottenham |
| 1:09.7 | from Wednesday night until another |
| 1:12.0 | date postpone it because of the COVID issues at Aston Villa that saw their first team |
| 1:16.8 | squad put into isolation and that isolation continues until this Friday. |
| 1:21.5 | They played an under 23 team and used backup staff members in the FA Cup against Liverpool |
| 1:26.8 | on Friday, |
| 1:27.8 | but there was always going to be a big question about fairness, balance, integrity when it |
| 1:32.7 | came to the Premier League. Meanwhile, the Premier League proposed that in the absence of that game, |
| 1:37.7 | if it was to be moved, why don't we play the game that needs to be rescheduled between |
... |
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