LONDON (REUTERS) - The English Premier League said on Monday (Jan 3) it had found 94 new positive Covid-19 cases among players and staff in the last week, the first week-by-week decrease in positive results for eight weeks.

"(We) can today confirm that between Monday 27 December 2021 and Sunday 2 January 2022, 14,250 Covid-19 tests were administered on players and club staff. Of these, there were 94 new positive cases (0.65 per cent)," the league said in a statement.

The figure had been rising steadily in recent weeks with 90 testing positive between Dec 13 and Dec 19 and a record 103 cases from Dec 20-26.

Eighteen games have been postponed since last month due to Covid-19 outbreaks and injuries at various clubs, while teams have often been forced to field weakened line-ups.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp as well as Alisson Becker, Roberto Firmino and Joel Matip from the playing squad missed the 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Sunday after returning positive tests.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte told reporters on Monday that Spurs are "monitoring" a couple of possible new Covid-19 cases at the club but declined to name the personnel.

"We are checking a couple of situations, we'll see. We didn't do this (name them) in the past and we will continue to do this in the same way. We are not 100 per cent sure they will miss the game," Conte said ahead of the Wednesday's League Cup semi-final first-leg away to Chelsea.