TOTTENHAM have moved to allay fears over that their Project Restart opener against Manchester United is under threat.
Spurs played Norwich in a friendly on Friday, a day before the Premier League announced that two more people had tested positive for Covid-19, one of whom played in the behind-closed-doors clash against Jose Mourinho’s side.
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Tottenham have confirmed that none of their players will need to self-isolate despite a full-contact match against NorwichCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Harry Kane returned to action against the Canaries who later confirmed that one of their players had tested positive for coronavirusCredit: Getty Images – Getty
That unnamed player must now isolate for seven days and will miss the Canaries’ first match back at Carrow Road to face Southampton on Friday.
Tottenham make their return on the same night as they host United but insisted they have no safety fears after their squad adhered to social distancing measures.
The north London club claim that the Norwich star that tested positive for coronavirus did not share any ‘close contacts’ with their players.
In a statement released to the BBC, Spurs explained: “Close contacts have been defined by the government as being within two metres of a confirmed case for 15 minutes or more.
“The Norwich player in question confirmed he had no “close contacts” with our team and our squad also verified this.
“Our testing has continued to return only negative results for Covid-19 since one positive reading was confirming almost two weeks ago.”
The Norwich player in question confirmed he had no “close contacts” with our team and our squad also verified this
Tottenham
Tottenham fell to a 2-1 defeat to Norwich in the friendly, which was played in four periods of 30 minutes.
The 2019 Champions League finalists took the lead against the Prem’s bottom club but conceded twice late on yet manager Mourinho remained in good spirits.
He told the club’s official website: “We needed minutes, we needed to know the feeling of playing here without our supporters and to have this session with another Premier League team is the best thing.
“It was a different match. We were supposed to divide the team in two and play another match but that was not possible, so I agreed with Daniel [Farke] to have this match of four periods.
“Of course, when you get into the third and fourth periods, you start making lots of changes because in the end, what we work on tactically, we do at the training ground, and today was more about competing, minutes, intensity.
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“In the last period we played some of the young boys, even George Marsh, who was playing for Leyton Orient, but joined us for this period of preparation where we need numbers.
“It was very important to do it and to go into this last week without any injuries, because we all know in these first matches, even friendlies, there is always the risk of getting injuries.
“It was good. I thank Daniel and his players and everyone at Norwich for coming to us and to share with us this opportunity, the last opportunity for us and them before our Friday matches.”
Watch highlights from Man United’s friendly vs West Brom, including Andreas Pereira brace, cheeky Tahith Chong goal and silky skills from Marcus Rashford
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
