By Wayne Veysey

21st Sep, 2020 | 5:46pm

Exclusive: Tottenham told clash v Leyton Orient called off & win given

Tottenham are to be announced as the winners of their EFL Cup tie against Leyton Orient after the decision was taken to call it off, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.

The players and coaching staffs of both sides have been told to call a halt to preparations to tomorrow night’s third-round fixture at the Breyer Group Stadium after Orient stars tested positive for coronavirus.

An EFL source has told Football Insider there will soon be an announcement that the match has been abandoned and Tottenham have progressed to the competition’s fourth round.

The decision has been made by the governing body not to reschedule as there are no alternative dates to play the original fixture.

The fourth round of the EFL Cup is due to take place next week and that leaves no possible dates for the match to be played.

It is a crushing blow for Orient, who announced today that a number of senior players had tested positive for Covid-19 following their match against Mansfield on Saturday.

There is no protocol in the EFL competition regulations for this eventuality, in terms of whether the match should be forfeited or rescheduled.

“Following our game on Saturday 19th September, Covid-19 testing was conducted on all of our first-team playing squad,” a club statement from Leyton Orient read.

“Today 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.”

EFL clubs no longer have to conduct mandatory tests on their players and staff for Covid-19 on a weekly basis, as is still the case in the Premier League.

In other news, Ryan Sessegnon has been tipped to leave Tottenham on permanent deal after U-turn.