Manchester United close down Carrington training ground due to Covid-19 outbreak throwing Brentford game into doubt
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Updated 13/12/2021 at 17:08 GMT
Manchester United are in talks with the Premier League over their proposed fixture with Brentford on Tuesday night, after announcing their decision to shut their Carrington training ground for 24 hours in a bid to stall a Covid-19 outbreak. "Team and staff travel to London will be deferred pending the result of that discussion," said the club.
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Manchester United's Premier League trip to Brentford on Tuesday has been thrown into doubt after United revealed they have closed their Carrington training ground for 24 hours due to a growing Covid-19 outbreak.
United said on Sunday that a "small number" of first-team players and staff had returned positive lateral flow tests.
In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the club said: "Manchester United can confirm that following PCR test confirmation of yesterday’s positive LFT [lateral flow test] Covid-19 cases among the first team staff and players, the decision has been taken to close down first team operations at the Carrington Training Complex for 24 hours, to minimise risk of any further infection.
"Individuals who tested positive are isolating per Premier League protocols.
"Given cancellation of training and disruption to the squad, and with the health of players and staff the priority, the club is in discussion with the Premier League whether it is safe for Tuesday’s fixture against Brentford to continue, both from a Covid-19 infection and player preparation perspective.
"Team and staff travel to London will be deferred pending the result of that discussion."
It follows the outbreak of Covid-19 at Tottenham Hotspur in the last week, which resulted in Spurs' games against Rennes and Brighton being called off.
Spurs have now reportedly suffered more outbreaks this week, and have also been forced into sending their entire under-23 side home from Hotspur way due to the escalating crisis.
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Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard revealed on Monday that his group have now been affected too.
"We've got a couple of [positive] cases on the playing side and we've got a couple of cases on the staff side," Gerrard said.
"Due to medical confidentiality, I'm obviously not going to reveal any names but that's not what we wanted.
"We'll have to deal with the situation and adapt.
"From a playing point of view, there will be an opportunity for others to come in and help us.
"We'll try and prepare the best way that we can for tomorrow night's game [Tuesday's trip to Leicester City] and we wish those with positive cases in the last 24 hours well."
Brighton - who are due to host Wolves on Wednesday night - are another club to record positive cases, with their coach Graham Potter revealing the news before the press on Monday.
"We've got a combination of injuries and a bit of Covid-19 ourselves," Potter said.
"We've got three or four, I would say, at the moment.
"And obviously that's something we have to deal with, like everybody else.
"Now we're just checking and making sure it's at that number."
With the Premier League's Christmas schedule seeing teams play and travel multiple times over a short period - and with the British government predicting a wave of new infections from the virus' Omicron variant - it's likely there may be more disruption ahead.
Man Utd to face Atletico in Champions League
Man Utd have been pitted against Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League after the draw had to be redone following an initial blunder by UEFA.
European's governing body were forced to declare the original draw 'null and void' after United were mistakenly drawn against Group F opponents Villarreal but then left out as a possible opponent for Atletico Madrid.
The original draw paired Ralf Rangnick's side with PSG but following complaints by Atletico - who were drawn against Bayern Munich - UEFA revealed they would conduct the entire draw from scratch. The new draw saw United paired with Atletico.
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