Sheffield United and Hull City inactive until New Year after game postponed

It means that the pair will now not take the field again until 2022, with both seeing their Boxing Day matches postponed, against Preston and Blackburn respectively.

United's trip to Deepdale was called off due to significant Covid problems among the North End playing squad and arrived at an early juncture.

The postponement of Hull's scheduled game with Rovers at shortly before 1pm on December 26 drew strong criticism following the lateness of the call with many Blackburn fans already present in East Yorkshire.

Defending the decision, Hull vice chairman Ehab Allam - speaking to BBC Radio Humberside on Boxing Day - commented: “Everyone is fine and most of the people affected are pretty much asymptomatic.

“We are complying with the EFL rules so are testing every day, we have had multiple cases this week, the squad was being thinned out to a point where we knew it was on the cusp of potentially having to cancel the game.

“We spoke to the league on Friday (Christmas Eve) to say we had 14 cases and still Saturday and Sunday testing to go and that the game was at risk.

“We were giving them a heads up that we may not be able to comply with 14 players being available for a game.

“We continued the testing yesterday (Christmas Day) and today (Boxing Day) and the number of positive cases got us to below the threshold of 14 this morning.”

"We did an extra test yesterday to try and mitigate the risk of this morning. We did two tests yesterday that the players conducted at home and then again this morning which we have to do in accordance with the rules.

“The players came in early, 10 or 10:30am, and there’s quite a few to get through with the testing of the players and the backroom staff.

“We were notified as soon as we got the last result, once we knew we then communicated with the league and the relative parties.”

The Blades - on an excellent run of form under new manager Paul Heckingbottom who has propelled them into play-off contention - last took the field at Fulham on December 20 and have not played a home game since the end of November.

They are due to host Chris Wilder's Middlesbrough on New Year's Day, while Hull are scheduled to visit Blackpool, although the Seasiders have Covid concerns ahead of their scheduled home match with Boro on Wednesday night.

Announching the postponement, a fresh Hull statement read: "Our match at Sheffield United on Wednesday 29th December has been postponed due to the Tigers having an insufficient number of players available to fulfil the fixture.

"The club has worked hard to ensure it has been able to play the game.

"However, taking into account the injuries and positive Covid-19 cases in the squad, we do not have the required numbers for the match to take place.

"A new date for the trip to Bramall Lane will be announced in due course.

"All tickets purchased for the match will remain valid for the rearranged game. Details of how supporters can claim a refund will be confirmed shortly.

"We apologise again for the disappointment and disruption caused."