Watford head coach Claudio Ranieri fears Covid-19 will further affect the Premier League, after two games were postponed due to outbreaks.

Tottenham's game against Brighton and Brentford's game against Manchester United will now both have to be rescheduled because of positive tests, as the league reported its highest number of coronavirus cases since figures began being circulated in May last year.

Clubs have already been instructed by the league to reinstate emergency measures, including the wearing of face masks, observing social distancing and limiting treatment time, amid the tightening of restrictions in England.

The league has also announced it will “increase the frequency of both lateral flow and PCR Covid-19 testing of players and staff” as concerns heighten nationally amid the spread of the Omicron variant.

The Hornets' boss believes it is a sign of things to come.

"Nearly everyone is vaccinated here in the club," said Ranieri.

"The situation is, I think, now and the next days there’ll be other players with the problem. Also people with two vaccinations can take the new virus and then it’s very difficult.

"I think sooner or later there will be some more players and more matches that can't be played - it's very very sad."

Asked if he was worried that it could reach a stage where fans might be prevented from attending again, he replied: "I’m worried because the fans are the core of our football, of our sport, without fans it’s very sad."

While the club are doing all they can to follow guidelines at the training ground, Ranieri, who urged players to get vaccinated last week, said it is still difficult to keep everybody safe when they leave to go home after training.

"It’s very important to stay every day with the mask and stay very very careful in every situation," he continued.

"It’s very difficult to be safe 100 per cent, I have had three vaccinations but I’m not sure because anything could happen.

"The [players'] family has other people, maybe someone's son goes to primary school, everything is difficult and it's for this reason I said also in the next matches could have other players involved in this Covid situation."