Manchester United keeping Premier League informed on Covid outbreak ahead of Brighton fixture

Unaffected first team players and staff returned to Carrington on Wednesday

Mark Critchley
Northern Football Correspondent
Wednesday 15 December 2021 11:36 EST
Comments
Manchester United’s home ground Old Trafford
Manchester United’s home ground Old Trafford (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Manchester United are keeping the Premier League informed over the Covid-19 outbreak within their squad ahead of Saturday's lunchtime kick-off against Brighton and Hove Albion.

United's game away to Brentford, originally set to be played on Tuesday, was postponed after a number of players and staff tested positive and first team operations were shut down at Carrington.

Members of the first team squad who were unaffected returned to the club's training ground when it re-opened on Wednesday morning.

All those attending were required to undergo a lateral flow and PCR tests and return negative results, as per new strengthened Premier League guidance on Covid.

United are scheduled to face Brighton this weekend, but their head coach Graham Potter said on Monday that there have been "three or four" Covid-positive results returned among his own playing squad.

But despite Brighton's outbreak, their Premier League fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers is set to go ahead on Wednesday evening.

Any request to postpone Saturday's match against United would have to go before the Premier League board, who judge on a case-by-case basis and do not have a set threshold for positive tests which would guarantee postponement.

The postponement of the Brentford fixture was announced late on Monday evening, less than 24 hours before its scheduled kick-off.

Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotpsur, Leicester City and Norwich City are among the other clubs to have confirmed they are experiencing Covid outbreaks.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in