Manchester United’s Premier League match with Brentford could be the latest to fall victim to COVID-19 after positive tests forced the Red Devils to close their Carrington training ground.
Talks are ongoing between the two clubs and the Premier League to ascertain whether the match, scheduled to take place on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. GMT (2:30 p.m. ET) can go ahead following an unconfirmed number of tests at United which returned positive results.
A club statement said: “Manchester United can confirm that following PCR test confirmation of yesterday’s positive LFT [later flow test] COVID-19 cases among the first team staff and players, the decision has been taken to close down first team operations at the Carrington Training Complex for 24 hours, to minimize risk of any further infection. Individuals who tested positive are isolating per Premier League protocols.
“Given cancellation of training and disruption to the squad, and with the health of players and staff the priority, the club is in discussion with the Premier League whether it is safe for Tuesday’s fixture against Brentford to continue, both from a COVID infection and player preparation perspective. Team and staff travel to London will be deferred pending the result of that discussion.”
Spurs have already seen their Premier League game against Brighton, due to take place yesterday, postponed due to COVID-19 cases in Antonio Conte’s first team and there has yet been no clarification as to whether Thursday’s game against Leicester City will take place as scheduled. Meanwhile an outbreak at Aston Villa has affected both players and staff ahead of their game with Norwich City.
United had won both of their previous two Premier League matches under interim manager Ralf Rangnick, beating Crystal Palace and Norwich 1-0. News of their training ground closure comes on a dramatic day for the Red Devils, who were at the heart of controversy around the redraw of the Champions League round of 16 when their ball was mistakenly left out of part of the first attempt. Having initially been handed a tie with Paris Saint-Germain they will now face Atletico Madrid.
The risk of possible Premier League fixtures being cancelled comes as the United Kingdom braces for a wave of the Omicron COVID-19 variant. On Sunday prime minister Boris Johnson announced a rapid expansion of England’s booster program with the intention of offering everyone over the age of 18 a booster before the end of December. Vaccine passports will be introduced at Premier League matches from Wednesday, subject to a vote in the House of Commons that the government is expected to win.
