Spurs-Fulham off at three hours’ notice due to Covid-19 cases

The Premier League match b e t w e e n To tt e n h a m a n d Fulham last night was postponed after a coronavirus outbreak at the west London club.

The Cottagers returned a number of positive test results on Tuesday and, after more came in on Wednesday, the Premier League decided to call the match off less than three hours before the scheduled 6pm kick-off.

It becomes the third topflight game to be wiped out by the virus, following Newc a s tl e’s m atc h w i th A s to n Villa earlier this month and M o n d ay ’s g a m e b e t w e e n Eve rto n a n d M a n c h e s te r City.

A statement from Tottenham read: “We can confirm t h at o u r P re m i e r L e a g u e h o m e f i x tu re a ga i n s t Fu l - ham, scheduled to take place this evening, has been postponed.”

It is understood Spurs are unhappy about the decision and the timing of it.

There had been speculation throughout the day that the game might be called off and manager Jose Mourinho indicated his frustration in an Instagram post shortly after 2pm.

Mourinho posted a vide o o n h i s ac c ou nt o f h i s s ta f f wa i t i n g wa i t i n g fo r news with a message which read: “We still don’t know if we play. Best league in the world.”

The video was filmed at 2.02pm – something the Portuguese made clear by showing the time in the corner of a TV screen in the room.

The Premier League confirmed the decision to postp o n e th e ga m e wa s ta ke n following a meeting.

A statement read: “Fulham lodged a request with the Premier League board to rearrange the fixture following a significant rise in positive Covid-19 cases, as well as a number of players showing symptoms (on Wednesday).

“The Premier League board has consulted its medical advisors and the decision to postpone the game has been taken as a precaution and with the health of players and staff as the priority. The group will now be retested immediately.”

The news comes after the Premier League announced on Tuesday there had been a season-high 18 positive tests in its latest round of testing across the competition.

However, despite calls in some quarters for the league to consider halting all games i n a “c i rc u i t- b rea ke r ”, th e competition is set to continue.