Tottenham’s clash away to Leicester tonight has been called off just hours before kick-off due to Covid-19 outbreaks at both clubs.
This week, both teams complained about having requests to postpone the game rejected.
The two sides have endured Covid-19 outbreaks of late, with Tottenham’s matches against Rennes in the Europa Conference League and Brighton in the Premier League postponed.
The Premier League statement read: ‘The Premier League Board has postponed Leicester City FC’s match against Tottenham Hotspur tonight due to an increase in positive COVID-19 cases within Leicester’s squad today”.
‘In light of the new information, Leicester applied this morning for the fixture to be called off due to an ongoing outbreak within the squad, which has resulted in more players and staff testing positive for COVID-19 today. This has left the club with an insufficient number of players available to fulfil the game”
‘Following consultation with the Premier League and UK Health Security Agency, the club’s first team training ground was closed this morning to help contain the outbreak.
‘The Premier League understands this decision will disappoint and frustrate fans who were due to attend this evening’s game and apologizes for the inconvenience and disruption caused at such short notice.’
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers said on Wednesday: ‘We’ve still got a number of players out. We’ve got nine players out through COVID and other medical issues. In terms of COVID, we’re still where we were.’
Of the potential for the game to be called off, he said: ‘We’ve looked at that.
‘Unfortunately for us, we weren’t granted any dispensation, which was disappointing. We wanted to support the measures, but when we wanted support for the extreme situation we were in, it’s disappointing not to get the support. We were touch and go for the Newcastle game.
‘We’ve picked up a couple of injuries as well, that are COVID related because we can’t rotate the team. We’ll put out the best team we can.’