LONDON (AP) – The increase in coronavirus infections in the Premier League caused a fourth game to be postponed in five days on Thursday, with Leicester-Tottenham postponing a few hours before kickoff.
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This is Tottenham’s third consecutive game postponed due to coronavirus cases in the squad, including a Europa Conference League game.
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Daunted by an outbreak in their own ranks, a previous request by Leicester to postpone the match had been rejected by the Premier League.
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But the English league said Thursday that Leicester had been left with an “insufficient number of available players” after new COVID-19 infections were confirmed in the staff and player roster. Its training facilities were closed to contain the outbreak.
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“The Premier League understands that this decision will disappoint and frustrate the fans who were scheduled to attend the game tonight and apologize for the sudden inconvenience and disruption,” the league said.
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The decision made on Thursday coincided after Brentford coach Thomas Frank requested a postponement of the weekend so that clubs can deal with the coronavirus outbreaks.
In the middle of a press conference Thursday, prior to Brentford’s visit to Southampton on Saturday, Frank received notification of four additional cases of coronavirus on campus and staff. This brought the number of cases to 13.
Over the past week, the Brighton-Tottenham, Brentford-Manchester United and Burnley-Watford matches were postponed due to outbreaks of coronavirus on campuses.
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