Tottenham’s Carabao Cup match vs. Leyton Orient could be delayed or cancelled due to COVID

Tottenham Hotspur’s match schedule could get just a little bit easier, but for the worst possible reason. Reports are emerging that Tuesday’s Carabao Cup third round match at Leyton Orient could be postponed — or even cancelled — due to an outbreak of positive tests at the League Two club.

Here’s the confirmation of the positive COVID tests from Leyton Orient’s official account.

Today (Monday 21st) we received formal confirmation which shows that a number of our first-team squad have tested positive for COVID-19.

We have informed the EFL and Tottenham Hotspur and will make a further announcement regarding Tuesday’s match shortly.

We have also informed Mansfield Town, Plymouth Argyle and Oldham Athletic, our three most recent opponents, prior to the public release of this information.

Leyton Orient’s priority is the health and well-being of its players and staff. Those who have tested positive will now strictly follow government self-isolation guidelines.

The Breyer Group Stadium and training ground facilities will be closed until further notice.

At this time, the club will make no further comment.

—Leyton Orient, statement

Dan Kilpatrick of the Evening Standard is also reporting that there’s a chance that due to the fixture pileup in the early part of the season that the match will be forfeited, with Tottenham earning a 3-0 win and advancing to the next round.

It’s a shame on a number of levels. Firstly, lower-league sides normally rely on these cup matches against big clubs and the gate receipts they generate to augment their budgets. That’s not happening since the matches are happening behind closed doors, but Tottenham had already announced that they were planning on auctioning match-worn jerseys to benefit the JE3 Foundation, set up in the memory of the former Spurs player and Orient manager Justin Edinburgh who passed away last year.

A cancelation would also deny us the possibility of seeing Harry Kane play against the club who gave him his first real chance at first team football and whose shirts he is sponsoring. That’s too bad, though the flip side is that it would give Harry a couple extra days of rest since you know he’s going to be playing 90 minutes both Thursday in North Macedonia and Sunday at Old Trafford.

We’ll update this article when the official announcement comes either way.