Following a third consecutive postponement, Tottenham are facing increased fixture congestion; Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers revealed on Wednesday that the Premier League had rejected a request to postpone the game.
Due to a Covid-19 outbreak among Leicester City’s squad, the Foxes’ Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday has been delayed.
The game was postponed after Leicester requested a second cancellation from the Premier League after more positive coronavirus cases were verified on Thursday morning.
The Premier League’s rejection of Leicester’s initial request to postpone the game was “disappointing,” according to manager Brendan Rodgers.
“Leicester City can confirm that the Premier League Board has decided to postpone Thursday night’s game against Tottenham Hotspur,” the club said in a statement.
“The decision was made with the assistance of medical advisors after the Club resubmitted its application for postponement following confirmation this morning (Thursday) of additional positive Covid-19 tests within the first team squad.” As a result, the club lacks a sufficient number of First Team players to complete the match.”
Leicester also announced that first-team operations at their training facility would be suspended for 48 hours as a “circuit breaker” to reduce the possibility of further incidents.
Tottenham’s third consecutive postponement follows the cancellation of their Europa League encounter against Rennes and their Premier League match against Brighton last weekend, both due to coronavirus outbreaks.
The postponement came just hours after Brentford head coach Thomas Frank requested that the Premier League postpone this weekend’s round of fixtures because to outbreaks of Covid-19 at multiple top-flight clubs.
Manchester United’s trip to Brentford on Tuesday and Watford’s trip to Burnley on Wednesday are the two Premier League games that have been canceled this week.
In the final two Premier League games of this round, Chelsea will meet Everton on Thursday evening, while Liverpool will host Newcastle.
According to a statement from the Premier League, “the Premier League Board has postponed Leicester City’s match against Tottenham Hotspur tonight due to a rise of positive COVID-19 instances within Leicester’s squad today.”
“As a result of the new information, Leicester requested that the game be canceled this morning due to a continued outbreak among the squad, which has resulted in more players and staff testing positive for Covid-19 today.”
“As a result, the club now has an insufficient number of players available to complete the match.”
The Premier League stated that postponement requests are considered on a “case-by-case” basis.
Rodgers stated in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday that his team was a “big doubt” for Sunday’s game against Newcastle, and that he was missing nine first-team players due to Covid and illness.
Tottenham now has three Premier League matches to reschedule after their match against Burnley was also postponed due to bad weather two weeks ago.
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte revealed on Wednesday that the Leicester game had been postponed so that Spurs could play their Europa League encounter against Rennes, which had been postponed last week.
Tottenham confirmed the game had been canceled but did not publish a statement of their own.
