LONDON: Tottenham鈥檚 Premier League game at Brighton on Sunday has been postponed due to a severe coronavirus outbreak at the north London club.
Eight Tottenham players and five staff members have tested positive for the virus, forcing the postponement of Thursday鈥檚 Europa Conference League tie against Rennes.
Tottenham asked Premier League chiefs to postpone this weekend鈥檚 trip to the Amex Stadium as well and their request was granted on Thursday.
鈥淲e can confirm that our Premier League fixture at Brighton & Hove Albion, on Sunday 12 December at 2pm, has been postponed following a Premier League Board meeting this afternoon (Thursday),鈥� a Tottenham statement said.
鈥淭he Premier League Board took the decision to postpone the game following guidance from medical advisers, with the health of players and staff the priority. The fixture will be rescheduled in due course.
鈥淭he club requested the match to be rearranged following a significant number of positive COVID-19 cases among players and relevant staff.
鈥淲e should like to apologize to everyone at Stade Rennais and Brighton & Hove Albion and to both their supporters and ours for any inconvenience caused.鈥�
Tottenham were forced to close their first-team training center on Wednesday as a result of the outbreak.
Their Premier League match at Leicester next Thursday will also be in doubt, not only because of the situation in Antonio Conte鈥檚 squad but because the Foxes have been hit by a less widespread Covid outbreak.
Conte was visibly emotional about the outbreak in his press conference ahead of the Rennes game on Wednesday.
鈥淭he problem is that every day we are having people with Covid,鈥� Conte said.
鈥淧eople that yesterday weren鈥檛 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.
鈥淭he 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鈥檛 know what happens.鈥�
The postponement of further games will cause significant scheduling problems for Tottenham, who have already had a Premier League game at Burnley in November called off because of snow.
Discussions regarding the rescheduling of the game with Rennes are ongoing with UEFA, with rules stating there is a December 31 deadline for group games to be completed.
It is understood there could be some room for maneuver on that as Tottenham have a packed domestic schedule heading into the new year.
Rennes go on a winter break on December 22 and the French club have not taken the postponement of Thursday鈥檚 game well.
They accused Spurs of causing 鈥淟ondon fog鈥� by refusing to tell them how many cases they had and informing them in the afternoon that the game would be played, only to call it off an hour after they had arrived in the capital.
The Ligue 1 club, who returned to France on Thursday, later said they 鈥渉ope the interests of the club will be respected鈥� regarding a possible rearrangement.