Chelsea may be forced to leave at home any players not vaccinated against coronavirus for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Lille in March.

France has toughened its Covid rules and there is now no exemption for unvaccinated professional athletes wishing to enter the country.

Uefa released a statement on Thursday saying that teams would be required “in principle” to abide by applicable rules in any country.

Uefa is yet to publish its updated regulations for the knockout phases of its three men’s club competitions, which it says will provide “further guidance”.

The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, has previously stated he wants to “piss off” unvaccinated people by limiting their access to public places such as bars, cinemas and restaurants.

It seems unlikely Uefa – whose president Aleksander Ceferin has emphatically stated his support for vaccination – would undermine the French approach by insisting on matches being moved to a neutral venue to get around the rules.
 

The Premier League is planning to revise its controversial Covid regulations which have caused the postponement of 22 fixtures over the past five weeks.

Rules could be changed for the round of fixtures beginning on 8 February, with the league crediting a recent fall in the number of positive Covid tests among players and staff.

Discussions have taken place with clubs but no changes are expected before this weekend’s matches. Teams will then go on a planned winter break between 24 January and 3 February, with the FA Cup fourth round running from 4-7 February.

A shareholders’ meeting could be held next week and any rule change would require the support of 14 or more clubs.

Regulations on Covid suspensions were agreed by clubs, who voted them through at a board meeting last year, but they have become the subject of dispute, with Tottenham releasing a statement criticising the decision to postpone their game at home to Arsenal last weekend and calling for “clarity and consistency on the application of the rule”.

Spurs said that whereas “the original intention of the guidance was to deal with player availability directly affected by Covid cases”, the “unintended consequences” of the rule meant that decisions were being taken due to “player availability unrelated to Covid”.

On Wednesday Mikel Arteta defended Arsenal’s decision to apply for a postponement. “We got to a point where we could not make a squad available with the numbers required in this league to play a game,” the manager said. “That’s why we did not play; it’s as simple as that.”

The rules as laid out do allow games to be called off for injuries unrelated to Covid, if they contribute to an overall shortage of players. Applications are considered by the league when a team cannot field 13 outfield players and a goalkeeper from “either its squad list or its appropriately experienced Under-21 players”. The league says its medical team scrutinises all requests and will go back to clubs if they feel there is insufficient clarity on the status of players’ fitness.

A Premier League spokesperson said: “The Premier League is consulting with our clubs regarding Covid-19 postponement rules and guidance in light of the changing national picture and the falling number of cases within our squads.

“The League’s current guidance was amended in December following the emergence of the new Omicron variant and we continue to monitor the ongoing effects of the virus and will update our guidance accordingly.”
 

The Football Association is investigating reports of suspicious betting activity around the awarding of a yellow card to an Arsenal player during a Premier League match this season.

According to reports originally published in the Athletic, bookmakers alerted the FA to unusual betting patterns after the match and the governing body is looking into the claims, although a formal investigation has not been undertaken at this stage. An FA spokesperson said: “The FA is aware of the matter in question and is looking into it.” Arsenal declined to comment.

Spot betting allows gamblers to place bets on specific details of matches – from whether an individual will receive a yellow card to the number of corners. Although bookmakers will offer odds on such an outcome before a match, the markets also remain live during play where greater rewards are possible. The data analysis company Sportradar has reported that up to 90% of suspicious activity around sport gambling markets occurs during in-game betting.

Although spot fixing has long been a subject of concern in British sport, it has rarely been confirmed at the top level of professional competition. In 2012, the Essex cricketer Mervyn Westfield was jailed for four months after admitting to bowling in a way that would allow the scoring of a certain number of runs during a Natwest Pro40 match.

In April 2018, the professional footballer Bradley Wood was banned from playing for six years after he was found to have intentionally got booked twice while playing for Lincoln City during their run to the FA Cup quarter-finals the previous season. Text messages revealed he had agreed on a plan with seven friends and acquaintances who stood to win £10,000 collectively, though the sum was never paid out in full.

 former Southampton and England midfielder Matt Le Tissier revealed in his autobiography that he had placed a spread bet on the timing of the first throw-in in a match in which he played. The matter was referred to Hampshire police but the Crown Prosecution Service elected not to pursue a case.

Barcelona have told Ousmane Dembele he must leave this month because he is “not committed to the project”.

Dembele is a free agent at the end of the season and has repeatedly turned down the offer of a new deal.

He joined Barca from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 in a deal worth up to £135.5m but will be able to leave for nothing when his contract expires.

“It seems obvious that the player does not want to continue at Barca,” said director of football Mateu Alemany.

Barcelona manager Xavi has already warned Dembele he must sign a new contract or leave the Spanish side.

Alemany said the club supports Xavi and agrees it is “absolutely the correct approach”, with lengthy contract talks failing to reach an agreement.

“With Ousmane and his agent we began [contract] conversations around July so it’s been six months and a bit,” Alemany said.

“We’ve talked, we’ve talked, we’ve talked. Barca has made different offers.

“We’ve tried to find a way for the player to continue with us but these offers have been systematically rejected by his agents.

“In this scenario he and his agents have been informed that he must leave immediately because we want players committed to this project and therefore we hope that a transfer will take place before January 31.”

The deal to sign Dembele was, at the time, the second most expensive transfer ever, but his career at the Nou Camp has been hampered by injuries.

The 24-year-old has been linked with a host of clubs, including Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool.