Antonio Conte reveals Tottenham have just ELEVEN players left to play after Covid outbreak

Tottenham boss Antonio Conte admitted his side are ‘scared’ about the Covid outbreak that has ripped its way through his squad – with just eleven players left available and the club planning to request that their trip to Brighton is postponed. 

Spurs, who claimed their Europa Conference League clash with Rennes on Thursday night had been postponed before the French club reacted furiously, were forced to re-test all of their players and staff on Tuesday after seven stars and four members of staff returned positive results earlier in the week.

And further positives have emerged from their latest coronavirus PCR tests – including one player and one member of staff who were involved in training on Wednesday only to discover after the session that they had also contracted the virus, taking the total number affected to 13 players and staff.

Conte said: ‘The problem is every day we are having people with Covid. People that yesterday weren’t positive today are positive and we continue to have contact with people we think are negative but the day after they become positive I think this is a serious problem.

Tottenham boss Antonio Conte admitted his side’s Covid outbreak was ‘scary’ after 13 players and staff tested positive

The Italian said the situation was becoming worse by the day with one more player and staff testing positive after taking part in training

It is not yet known which players have been affected, with seven initially picking up the virus before the situation escalated

‘Today one player and one member of staff. I think the worst is we don’t know and we continue to have contact with people the day before was negative. And for sure this is not a good situation. 

‘We had a training session. We prepare the game against Rennes but it is very difficult to face at the end of the training session again, one player positive, another member of staff positive and tomorrow who? Me? Another player? Another member of staff? And we continue in this way.

‘The situation is serious but I don’t know and it’s a pity because I want to speak about football and now to speak about Covid I think this is not good for you, me, our fans, all of football I think.

Tottenham claimed on Wednesday night that their clash with Rennes had been postponed 

But Rennes accused Tottenham of making an ‘unilateral decision’ over the fate of the game

‘Every day we are having contact with people that are false negative and become positive and them everyone is a bit scared because we have family and why I have to take this risk? Why? This is my question. 

‘Today we had the training session, we prepared the game and yesterday two other positives, today two other positives and tomorrow, who? Me? I don’t know. Maybe. Better me than a player for sure but I think that it is not right for everyone because we have family and contact with them when we come back home we have contact with our family.

‘There are situations that made me very upset, very upset because it is serious and there is a big infection and now for sure we are a bit scared because tomorrow we don’t know what happened.’

Spurs striker Harry Kane led the group of remaining stars in training ahead of the Rennes clash

Davinson Sanchez (centre), Matt Doherty (left) and Eric Dier (second left) also took part 

Conte ended his press conference after just ten minutes and Tottenham players looked concerned as they headed out for training on Wednesday afternoon. 

Vice captain Harry Kane led the group, along with Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, Matt Doherty and Joe Rodon. 

As reported by Sportsmail, the Premier League were already braced for a request from Spurs who were holding off making a call on their intentions for the Brighton game until the outcome of their follow-up tests were confirmed.

The Premier League have agreed to postpone fixtures in the past when clubs have been badly hit. The Premier League board make the final decision, treating each request on a case-by-case basis. 

Conte said the players were worried about passing the virus on to their families and said he was ‘upset’ about the situation

The club are set to make a request to the Premier League to postpone their trip to Brighton

Spurs’s immediate priority was Thursday’s meeting with French side Rennes but they claim the match has been called off.

A club statement read: ‘We can confirm that our UEFA Europa Conference League Group G home fixture against Stade Rennais will not take place tomorrow (Thursday 9 December at 8pm UK) after a number of positive COVID-19 cases at the Club.

‘Discussions are ongoing with UEFA and we shall provide a further update on this fixture in due course.

‘Additionally, following discussions with the Health Security Agency and DCMS advisers, 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.

‘All other areas of the Training Centre remain operational.’ 

However, Rennes later accused Tottenham of making an ‘unilateral decision’ to postpone the match and will contact UEFA to allow the game to go ahead. 

The news comes as a huge blow to Spurs, who are looking to keep their momentum after three straight Premier League wins  

Rennes responded furiously with their own statement, claiming Spurs refused to reveal the number of players affected by Covid-19 when competition rules state a match must be played as long as the team has 13 outfield players and a goalkeeper.

‘Following the press release published by Tottenham at 9pm, this Wednesday, Stade Rennais FC would like to clarify the following facts,’ the Ligue 1 club said.

‘In a video conference at 7.45pm between representatives of UEFA, Tottenham and SRFC, the Spurs director of football (Fabio Paratici) announced their intention not to play the UEFA Europa Conference League game on Thursday evening.

‘(This is a) unilateral decision which has not been confirmed by UEFA in any way.

‘The Tottenham representative did not want to announce the number of players affected by Covid when the rule states that a match must be played as long as the team has 13 outfielders and a keeper.

‘He argued for a decision by the English authorities without advancing any official document.

‘As the match was not officially cancelled by UEFA, Stade Rennais FC upheld their decision to play.

‘Faced with this “London fog”, the SRFC reserves the right to approach UEFA. This lack of fair play is all the more glaring as Tottenham had confirmed by email that the match would be held at the start of the afternoon before warning Rennes of their intention not to play just after their landing in London City.’