Brighton vs Tottenham Covid-19 update: Spurs close first team area of training centre and postpone Europa Conference League fixture

Tottenham’s Europa Conference League game against Rennes on Thursday has been postponed following several positive Covid-19 cases at the club.
Tottenham boss Antonio Conte said it's a scary and strange situationTottenham boss Antonio Conte said it's a scary and strange situation
Tottenham boss Antonio Conte said it's a scary and strange situation

Spurs boss Antonio Conte revealed earlier on Wednesday eight players and five members of staff had tested positive for coronavirus and said the outbreak has left everyone scared and worried for their families.

Spurs were set to play their crunch Europa Conference League game against Rennes as UEFA rules much stricter on the minimum number of players available.

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It remains unclear whether the club will request that their Premier League match at Brighton on Sunday is postponed.

What the club said

A club statement said: “We can confirm that our UEFA Europa Conference League Group G home fixture against Stade Rennais will not take place tomorrow (Thursday 9 December at 8pm UK) after a number of positive Covid-19 cases at the club.

“Discussions are ongoing with UEFA and we shall provide a further update on this fixture in due course.

“Additionally, following discussions with the Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) and DCMS advisers, the club has been advised to close the first team area of its training centre at this time, in the interests of the health and safety of players and staff. All other areas of the training centre remain operational.”

Will Brighton vs Tottenham be postponed?

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The Premier League is yet to postpone a match this season because of Covid-19. The only fixture that has failed to go ahead was Tottenham’s match at Burnley last month, which was called off a little under an hour before kick-off because of a heavy snowfall.

The rules of the league state that a fixture can be postponed, outside safety or weather grounds, “on the instructions of or with the prior written consent of the Board” – that is, if a club applies and gains permission to delay a fixture. As Tottenham say they have only 10 fit players – and what appears to be a Covid outbreak at the training ground – any request to the Premier League regarding this weekend’s game against Brighton is likely to be looked on favourably.

Postponements because of Covid are decided on a case-by-case basis. Spurs were twice affected by outbreaks in opposition clubs last season: Fulham and Aston Villa. Villa had two matches in a row postponed after their training ground was forced to close because of what they called a “significant” outbreak. One of those was against Newcastle, which had already been postponed because of an outbreak at the North East club.

In total, six fixtures were rearranged last season because of Covid outbreaks. Spurs will not relish having to rearrange another fixture with the congested festive schedule looming, but they may have to.

Conte “so strange and incredible”.

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The Italian added: “This for sure makes me upset because I am here to talk about football, about my players and the atmosphere that I want to see tomorrow. Instead we are talking about the people that have Covid.”

Conte was not able to confirm whether it was the Omicron variant at the centre of the outbreak but revealed he had been vaccinated.

On vaccination take-up within the squad, the Spurs boss added: “I think everyone takes (their own) best decision and is a question for the medical department about people whether they are vaccinated or not.”