Tottenham Hotspur’s Boxing Day clash with Crystal Palace will be played as normal despite a rising number of Covid cases in the Eagles’ squad.
Spurs were originally scheduled to host Patrick Vieira’s men at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday as part of the festive fixture list.
The game looked set to be called off due to rising numbers of cases within the Crystal Palace camp, with Palace players staying away from their pre-match hotel on the evening of Christmas Day, but there was no word from the Premier League, Tottenham or Palace.
However, football.london understands that the game will go ahead as originally scheduled with Palace having had a request for a postponement rejected.
football.london understands that two members of Crystal Palace’s backroom team had tested positive for the virus, whilst a small number of cases in the playing squad has also been confirmed.
Eagles boss Patrick Vieira said on Friday: “But when you are looking at the number of cases around we are started to be worried. We had a couple of cases in the football club in the last few days.
“We have tried our best to prevent all these kinds of situations but it is worrying. The evolution for the next couple of days we don’t know how it will go.”
The news will be a big boost to Spurs, who have seen their season thus far hugely hampered by various postponements.
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Antonio Conte’s men only got back in action last week against Liverpool in the Premier League following a 10-day break that saw fixtures against Rennes, Brighton and Hove Albion and Leicester City all called off.
The festive fixture list has still been greatly altered though with just six fixtures expected to take place throughout the remainder of the day.
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