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The Premier League’s handling of the postponement of Fulham‘s match at Tottenham Hotspur due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the west London club was “unprofessional” and could have been handled better, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho said on Friday.
Fulham were forced to lodge a request with the Premier League to rearrange Wednesday’s fixture due to several positive cases and the league called off the game less than three hours before kickoff.
Mourinho was not too pleased about being kept in the dark till the last minute and had posted a tongue-in-cheek comment on Instagram labelling the Premier League the “best league in the world” while they waited for a decision.
“I don’t want to speak too much about it. Just to say I felt [it was] unprofessional, but that is the way it was,” Mourinho told reporters ahead of Saturday’s match against Leeds United.
“We were preparing ourselves for that match and of course we didn’t play, and that is disruptive of what is a week of work.
“Training sessions before that would be different if we were going to play that game. People say good for me that there was no game, but only good for me if I knew there was no game.”
Mourinho said Lucas Moura and Carlos Vinicius are expected to be involved against Leeds after both forwards missed the trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers with injury.
Mourinho added he does not expect any arrivals during the January transfer window with the club’s revenues taking a hit due to the pandemic.
“Times are not easy, the club made a big effort in the summer to try and build a good squad,” he said.
“If something good happened for us, it would be a big surprise for me… I don’t feel the right to ask for something.”
Spurs were top of the table last month but one point from three games has dropped them to seventh. However, Mourinho said he expects his side to improve.
“Football is also mental, and you’re not in control of every item of the game,” he said. “I believe we’re gong to have again a good period, where we win matches and score goals.”