MANCHESTER UNITED were chasing a fourth-straight Premier League victory as they headed for tonight’s scheduled clash with Brentford.
Ralf Rangnick has made an unbeaten start to his tenure as interim boss, with Norwich beaten 1-0 at Carrow Road last time out.
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Newly-promoted Brentford meanwhile are sitting in the top half after a dream start to their maiden Prem campaign – but the sides won’t be playing this evening.
Why has Brentford vs Man Utd been postponed?
The UK is braced for another wave of coronavirus with the Omicron variant now dominant across certain areas of the country.
And the Premier League on Monday recorded 42 positive cases – the highest number since the pandemic began.
Man Utd carried out their tests on Sunday and four players who featured in the win over Norwich returned positive.
As such, tonight’s match has been postponed.
The training ground was shut to the first team today and the club contacted the Premier League asking for the game to be postponed.
A Premier League statement read: “The Premier League Board has decided to postpone Brentford’s home fixture against Manchester United, due to be played on Tuesday, 14 December at 19.30 GMT.
“The decision was taken following guidance from medical advisers due to the exceptional circumstances of an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak within Manchester United’s squad.”
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When will match be replayed?
As yet, there is no confirmed date for the match to take place.
Both sides are heading into a packed festive fixture list and it could be a few weeks before this game can be squeezed in.
But it’s likely that the Premier League will want to get it played before United resume their Champions League schedule in February.
A United statement read “Following PCR confirmation of positive LFT Covid-19 tests among the first-team staff and players, the outbreak requires ongoing surveillance.
“A decision was taken to close first-team operations at the Carrington Training Complex for 24 hours to help minimise risk of further infection, and individuals who tested positive are isolating in line with Premier League protocols.
“Given cancellation of training and disruption to the squad, and with the health of players and staff the priority, the Club requested the match to be rearranged. The Premier League Board took the decision to postpone based on guidance from medical advisors.
“Manchester United regrets the inconvenience caused to Brentford FC and to the fans of both clubs by Covid-19.
“[The match] will be rescheduled in due course.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk