Tottenham’s plans for Sunday’s Premier League trip to Newcastle have been plunged into chaos after two players tested positive for coronavirus.
Both men, who trained with the group on Thursday, were shown to have contracted Covid-19 after tests in the last 24 hours.
The two unnamed players must now isolate for 10 days as per Government rules, keeping them out of the game at St James’ Park, a Europa Conference League match against Vitesse Arnhem and the London derby at West Ham next weekend.
Both players are due to be retested on Saturday, as per standard procedure.
The club are understood to be confident that no other players will have to isolate having come into close contact.
In his press conference on Friday afternoon, Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo admitted that he has been left with “huge issues” following the latest international break.
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The news will bring more frustration for Nuno, who saw his side suffer in the wake of September’s international fixtures when some squad members returned injured and three South American players went to Croatia for 10 days in order to avoid hard quarantine in England.
“After the international break there are always huge issues that happen,” Nuno said. “We have problems but I will not say before the game.”
Spurs’ South American quartet of Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso, Davinson Sanchez and Emerson Royal had not arrived back from international duty when Nuno addressed the media on Friday.
Nuno has not ruled out using the club’s South American players on Sunday despite their late return from international duty
The Spurs boss said he has not ruled out using them, while the loss of two first-team players could increase the chances of them featuring, despite Romero, Lo Celso and Emerson all having played in the early hours of Friday morning.
“They are travelling now,” Nuno said. “They will join us tomorrow (Saturday) and then we’ll see.
“The reports that we have is that they finished their games well. Some of them played 90 minutes, Davinson Sanchez no, but what we are expecting is for them to join us and then we’ll see.”
Spurs signed off before the international break with a 2-1 win against Aston Villa, which left them eighth in the Premier League table, just four points behind leaders Chelsea.
