Tottenham v Crystal Palace: Patrick Vieira confirms Eagles have two Covid cases but wants match to go ahead

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has confirmed the club is dealing with a “couple of” Covid cases, but was still hopeful of playing Spurs on Boxing Day.

LondonWorld revealed that a striker had tested positive for Covid-19 and was a doubt, while a non-playing staff member has also tested positive.

The south London side have also had to cancel their Christmas Party as precaution to the ravaging Omicron variant, that is spreading like wildfire in the capital.

Palace have also seen their game against Watford cancelled, due to an increasing number of cases in the Hornets’ camp, but Vieira is hoping that the damage will be limited from both sides and they will be able to present a team to play against Tottenham.

He said: “We hope that we can be OK, but if you look at what is happening around us then you begin to have worries.

“We have had a couple of cases in out football club and we have tried our best to keep it under control.

“But with the evolution for the next couple of days we don’t know how it will go.

“I’m not worried about the welfare about the games during this period, because its been like that for years, I’m worried about their welfare regarding Covid.

“With what is happening around at the moment, I hope that we are able to put up a team that will be able to go to Tottenham and play.”

The former Arsenal midfielder also confirmed that Wilfried Zaha was back in the Ivory Coast team, and that he would never stop any player from going to the Africa Cup of Nations.

He added: “Zaha has been named in the Ivory Coast and that did not surprise me at all.

“I think that there should be more respect and passion towards the Africa Cup of Nations, and we will never stop any player from going to the Africa Cup of Nations.

“I believe that there should be more respect towards the AFCON, maybe more journalists here should go to Africa and then they will know.”