A massive Covid-19 outbreak at Tottenham Hotspur has led to the rescheduling of their Premier League encounter against Brighton and Hove Albion initially set to take place on Sunday.
Five staffers, in addition to eight of the North London club’s players, have been confirmed to have contracted the virus. This also meant that their Europa Conference League game against Rennes was forcibly put off, something that the French club was not pleased about. Tottenham’s request to postpone their game at The Amex was accepted by the Premier League authorities on December 9.
Spurs released an official statement regarding the situation that the club is currently facing.
“The fixture will be rescheduled in due course. We should like to apologise to everyone at Stade Rennais and Brighton & Hove Albion and to both their supporters and ours for any inconvenience caused”
read the statement.
As a result of the Covid outbreak, the Antonio Conte-managed side had to cancel their training sessions on Wednesday. In addition to the already cancelled games, Spurs’s midweek match against Leicester City is also on the brink of cancellation, following a handful of positive Covid results at the King Power stadium.
This has created a situation of panic in the Premier League, and clubs have been asked to tighten safety measures in light of the Omicron variant. The British government, which had earlier relaxed coronavirus protocols, has now called for stricter measures to be put in place, and has issued a set of directives that the Premier League clubs are required to follow.
Conte was distressed by recent developments, as he spoke in the press conference ahead of the Rennes game, which was eventually postponed.
“People that yesterday weren’t positive, today were positive and we continue to have contact with people we think are negative but the day after become positive. I think this is a serious problem.
The situation is serious and it is contagious and there is a big infection and now for sure we are a bit scared because tomorrow we don’t know what happens.”
the Italian told club media.
There is some confusion regarding the feasibility of conducting the Rennes-Spurs game, keeping in mind that all group stage games must be held before December 31. However, it is understood that the clubs and the authorities are working towards some sort of plan to ensure an amicable solution.
Rennes were not impressed with the developments of this week, who expressed their displeasure, saying that they “hope the interests of the club will be respected” in all further deliberations.
