The Premier League match between Tottenham and Fulham has been 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 top-flight game to be wiped out by the virus, following Newcastle’s match with Aston Villa earlier this month and Monday’s game between Everton and Manchester City.
There had been speculation throughout the day that the game might be called off.
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho indicated his frustration at the uncertainty in an Instagram post shortly after 2pm.
Mourinho posted a video on his account of his staff waiting waiting for 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.
Record number of positive Premier League Covid-19 tests
The news comes after Sheffield United announced that “a number” of individuals are self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, while Ralph Hasenhuttl missed Southampton's game with West Ham after a member of his household tested positive.
It was all on the same day that the Premier League returned its highest number of positive coronavirus tests of the season, with 18 new cases.
Between December 21 and 27, 1,479 players and club staff were tested and those 18 individuals who have the virus will now self-isolate for a period of 10 days.
A number of those cases are at Manchester City after an outbreak there saw their game with Everton called off at four hours’ notice on Monday.
The previous highest number of cases this season was 16, during the week of November 9 to 15.
A Premier League statement read: “The Premier League can today confirm that between Monday 21 December and Sunday 27 December, 1,479 players and Club staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, there were 18 new positive tests.
“Players or club staff who have tested positive will self-isolate for a period of 10 days.
“The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency. No specific details as to clubs or individuals will be provided by the League and results will be made public after each round of testing.”
City’s trip to Goodison Park was the second Premier League game of the season to be called off due to Covid-19 after Newcastle’s game with Aston Villa was also wiped out last month.
