Shropshire Star

Wolves boss Nuno: Time to ramp up testing

Nuno Espirito Santo feels twice-weekly Covid-19 testing should be reintroduced across the Premier League – while his Wolves players are taking extra care.

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Nuno Espirito Santo (AMA)

Top-flight players in Tier Four areas will be tested twice a week for coronavirus as soon as possible, with fears growing over a new variant of the virus.

But Nuno would like to see all clubs revert to the level used during ‘Project Restart’ in the summer while revealing his squad are now having shopping delivered to them by club staff, as they did in the early stages of the pandemic.

“Yes. Maybe it is necessary,” said the Portuguese.

“The levels, the infection rate is increasing so much, maybe it is necessary.

“Unfortunately, yes, I would say we have to go back to twice-a-week testing, just to avoid potential situations of players arriving to the match and not being able to play.

“At this moment, it’s once a week. But what we are aware of is what’s happening in the UK.

“We speak on a daily basis, telling our players not to relax but to be more careful with the distance and avoid going out.

“We try to have staff making shopping and going to the supermarkets for them, to avoid any kind of risks.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, we started doing that. The kitchen preparing a basic box of the things we need. Now as the levels are increasing, we’ve started putting it together again.

“It’s about protecting ourselves. And we have so many people taking care of us.

“We have a small squad and some problems – some players out (with injury) – and we cannot afford to lose any player.”

Nuno, though, says he is not worried about tomorrow’s visitors Tottenham – coming in from a Tier Four area – posing an infection risk.

“Absolutely not. No problems at all. I’m totally confident on that situation,” he added.

“We know how strict we are with our protocols, and we are positive that all the clubs follow the same protocols. Everybody is worried and everybody does it.”