West Ham United manager David Moyes and players Issa Diop and Josh Cullen on Tuesday tested positive for COVID-19 just before the English Premier League club’s 5-1 win over Hull City in the EFL Cup.
West Ham’s medical team were informed of the test results while Moyes and his squad were at the London Stadium preparing for the third-round tie.
Diop and Cullen had been named in the West Ham team and both had to withdraw from the lineup.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The manager and both players immediately left the stadium and returned home,” a West Ham statement said. “All three, who are asymptomatic, will now follow Public Health England and Premier League guidelines and protocols.”
Tuesday’s match went ahead as planned, with West Ham assistant manager Alan Irvine taking charge of the team.
Irvine praised his side for staying focused.
“It was vitally important that the players were prepared psychologically and ready to go out and perform. This was an opportunity for them to impress and they certainly did that,” Irvine said.
“There were no players discussing it or looking for excuses about what was going on. No players were thinking the game couldn’t go on, it was all positive,” he said.
“I am not worried, the mood after the game was one of excitement, they know they played well and did themselves a load of good going forward,” Irvine said.
Sebastien Haller and Andriy Yarmolenko scored twice, and Robert Snodgrass was also on target.
West Ham said that their COVID-19 measures and protocols remain stringent and that they offered to test the Hull team ahead of the fixture, but City did not accept.
It is understood West Ham’s and Hull’s medical staff agreed the match could be played after consulting with the English Football League’s medical department, and given the evidence that suggests there is very low risk of transmission during a match outdoors.
Moyes, Diop and Cullen are required to isolate for 10 days, meaning they are to miss Sunday’s match at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and the EFL Cup fourth-round tie against Fleetwood Town or Everton next week.
Arsenal, against whom West Ham played at the weekend, are to continue their routine as planned, as all protocols were followed.
The three positive tests came just hours after Tottenham Hotspur’s EFL Cup tie at Leyton Orient was postponed after several members of the fourth-tier side tested positive for the virus.
Earlier on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that fans would not be allowed back into stadiums next month as originally planned due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
In a major blow to the financial future of English soccer, Johnson said that the measures introduced on Tuesday could remain in place for “perhaps six months.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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