Tottenham‘s Premier League match against Brighton at the Amex Stadium has been postponed following a Covid outbreak at the north London club.
Antonio Conte confirmed that eight first-team players and five members of staff had tested positive for the virus in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the club’s Europa Conference League game against French club Rennes.
A Premier League statement on Thursday evening read: “Brighton & Hove Albion’s home fixture against Tottenham Hotspur, due to be played on Sunday 12 December at 14:00 GMT, has been postponed following a Premier League Board meeting this afternoon.
“Tottenham Hotspur asked for the match to be rearranged following a significant number of positive Covid-19 cases among players and relevant staff.
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“This led to First Team facilities at the club’s training centre being closed after consultation with the Premier League and UK Health Security Agency.
“The Premier League Board has taken the decision to postpone the game following guidance from medical advisers, with the health of players and staff the priority.
“The postponed fixture will be rescheduled in due course and the Premier League wishes a quick recovery to those with Covid-19.”
Tottenham apologised to both Brighton and Rennes for any inconvenience caused by the postponements of the fixtures.
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“We should also like to thank both clubs for their understanding during these challenging times.”
On Wednesday evening, Spurs released a statement to announce that the match against Rennes would not be taking place and that following talks with the Health Security Agency and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport advisors, the first-team training area would be closed in “in the interests of the health and safety of players and staff”.
Although Uefa initially contradicted Tottenham’s statement by insisting that the game would go ahead as planned, they confirmed on Thursday morning that it would be postponed until a later date. Rennes, who had already flown to London for the game, accused Spurs of a “lack of fair play” and said they hoped “the interests of the club will be respected” in regards to a new date for the game being found.
Spurs had already requested that their game against Brighton be postponed prior to the cancellation of their match against Rennes.
The Premier League’s rules regarding the rescheduling of matches due to Covid-related issues differ from those as set out by Uefa. Whereas Uefa expects a fixture to be played, so long as a team impacted by the virus can name a squad of at least 13 players including one goalkeeper, the Premier League make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Last December, Manchester City’s match against Everton was called off after seven players and staff members had tested positive for Covid, while Fulham had their match with Spurs pushed back after suffering an outbreak of six positive tests.
Tottenham had 13 confirmed cases on Wednesday and Conte admitted that he was concerned that the number would rise further. “Everyday we are having positives,” he said. “Today one player and one member of staff.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3ELkepp
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