Sean Dyche has confirmed there has been an outbreak of coronavirus among his Burnley squad, though he's hoping the club have acted fast enough to avoid the virus spreading further.
The Clarets host Milton Keynes Dons in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday and Dyche has said there are a 'couple' of cases which could rule players out of the tie.
The Burnley boss failed to expand on which players had contracted the virus, though he is hopeful the club can prevent it from spreading to the rest of the squad, so there's no need to cause any fixture postponements.
“We have got a couple of cases that will effect us,” Dyche said, quoted by MEN. “We have some at the moment and we are having to be wise and re-pod the players.
“The worry for us across the sport is the knock-on effect. We have a couple of cases, which could affect us over the next few days. It’s a tough challenge for all, so we’re having to be wise and push the rules as hard as we can, to stop any future cases.”
Burnley are at least a game behind most of the other Premier League sides having seen their first game of the season against Manchester United postponed due to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side's involvement in the Europa League in August.
It was recently announced that the fixture had been re-arranged for 12 January, meaning Burnley will have just three days rest after their FA Cup commitments this Saturday and they will then have just four days to prepare for their trip to West Ham.
An outspread of the virus could cause a huge backlog of fixtures if Dyche's side are forced to postpone any league outings, and he's evidently keen to avoid such a scenario.
Source : 90min