Leyton Orient are told Tottenham tie will be CALLED OFF

Leyton Orient believe that their Carabao Cup third-round clash with Tottenham tonight will be called off even though they have a team ‘ready to play’, according to owner Nigel Travers.

Sportsmail reported on Monday that as many as 10 Orient players had tested positive for coronavirus, and players from both clubs were convinced the game would be postponed.

According to EFL rules, Orient’s inability to fulfill the fixture would then hand Spurs a bye into the fourth-round. 

The League Two club’s owner appeared on talkSPORT on Tuesday morning but revealed he had yet to hear whether the game, scheduled to kick-off at 6pm, was still going ahead or not.

He admitted: ‘I think it’s highly unlikely. We heard just before we came on air we’re expected to get a communication from the authorities anytime now. It may even happen while I’m on air that game will be off, but we haven’t had it yet.’at

And Travers insists that the League Two side are determined that the game will only be postponed, instead of cancelled altogether.

‘As far as we’re concerned  the game is a postponement not a cancellation.

‘I recognise that is in the guidelines. We have talked to the league about extenuating circumstances. I can assure you we will not be the first club this happens to this year.

‘The net result is we expect this game to be replayed, we expect it to take place, given flexibility. We will certainly campaign very strongly to make sure that it does take place.’

Travers revealed that Orient are set to lose £2.5million this year due to the coronavirus crisis and that the bumper clash with Tottenham is worth £150,000 profit to the club. 

He also insists that his players have remained socially distanced after returning to training, despite the spate of positive cases at the club.

And he admits the number of players testing positive could be bigger than the 10 first reported. 

He continued: ‘We’re still waiting for the final numbers, we don’t know. It’s been a strange process. Tottenham asked us to do the tests, we did it very willingly, we saw it as an opportunity to do testing, which is a good thing, and good for our players to know if they had symptoms or not. 

‘We did have a significant number but i don’t know the number. We have a team ready to play, just to be clear these are people who have been socially distanced right from the start of training. 

‘They haven’t had direct contact apart from playing the odd game. In recent weeks it’s been very much reduced minutes. We have a team ready to play tonight.’