After a convincing win against Norwich City last weekend, Covid-19 hit the Tottenham Hotspur dressing room this Monday with reports saying there were around 13 Spurs members who have tested positive. It has only made matter worse for Antonio Conte, with an already busy schedule on their hands and the Argentine duo injured Italian boss now has a depleted squad for his future games.
According to the manager, eight first-team players and five staff members at Tottenham had tested positive for Covid-19. Conte looked visibly unhappy at his press conference and was concerned about the well-being of the players as the group of players who tested false positive were already in contact with the squad.
“Eight players and five members of staff,” Conte said at a press conference, which was held virtually rather than in person at the club’s Hotspur Way training centre. “Every day we are having people with COVID, people who were not positive yesterday. This is not a good situation.”
Spurs were due to play a crucial Europa Conference League game against the French side Rennes on Thursday evening and the French team had been very blunt by putting out the statement that they would want to go ahead with the match as scheduled. UEFA has been logical as they have postponed the game despite the French side’s resistance. They will be looking to reschedule the conference league match before the end of 2021 as the knockout stages are supposed to be scheduled in 2022.
“We can confirm that our UEFA Europa Conference League Group G home fixture against Stade Rennais will not take place tomorrow after a number of positive COVID-19 cases at the club, the statement read,” Tottenham said in a statement. “Discussions are ongoing with UEFA and we shall provide a further update on this fixture in due course. Additionally, 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.”
Additionally, Tottenham Hotspur asked the Premier League board to postpone their weekend clash against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex stadium and the board granted their request on Thursday.
A Spurs statement read: “We 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).
“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.
“The club requested the match to be rearranged following a significant number of positive COVID-19 cases among players and relevant staff.
“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.”
How does this affect Tottenham?
The chaos only increases for the club as with 10 players out of which Emerson, Oliver Skipp, Heung-min Son, Lucas Moura, Bryan Gil and Ben Davies are said to be tested positive for Covid-19. With the Burnley game already cancelled a fortnight ago due to bad weather, a chaotic winter schedule the holiday period doesn’t seem to bring joy in this part of North London.
With Conte coming in, the team picking themselves up after a horrid show in Slovenia with back-to-back 3 wins in the league, the Lilywhites finds themselves unlucky to be in this situation. With Sergio Reguilon, Giovani Lo Celso and Sergio Romero already injured and the players who were tested positive will be monitored for 10 days, leaving Conte with many problems.
Antonio Conte in his press conference was “scared” for players’ health with uncertainty going around his squad. “The problem is that every day we are having people with Covid,” said Conte. “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 virus again has affected the footballing world. With the new omicron variant already affecting Europe, sensible footballing decisions have to be made. Footballers at the end of the day are also people who have family, the negligence will not only affect the present but also will be a great threat to future footballing events.
