Liverpool face an EFL investigation following allegations about ‘false positive’ Covid-19 testing that resulted in the postponement of their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg versus Arsenal.

The Reds were forced to close their training ground momentarily due to a backlog of suspected positive tests, while manager Jurgen Klopp and assistant coach Pep Lijnders were also placed in isolation.

The decision to postpone the Arsenal match has resulted in Liverpool losing home advantage in the second leg as a result of the rescheduling.

However, during Saturday’s FA Cup match against Shrewsbury, Klopp confirmed that only one of the positive tests – the one presented by Trent Alexander-Arnold – was accurate. The remaining suspicious cases were all ruled ‘false positives.’

In light of the discovery, The Athletic reports that the EFL has received complaints from clubs demanding clarification on when Liverpool discovered the ‘false positive’ tests.

According to reports, individuals who have complained are also dissatisfied since a number of clubs have requested postponements of recent games owing to adverse drug tests but have been denied by the EFL.

The EFL could conduct an investigation into the matter, and Liverpool could face fines if there is evidence that they requested a game’s postponement without a legal reason.

Liverpool were subjected to two rounds of testing, the first with lateral flows and the second with PCRs. It was not until the third round of testing that it was discovered that players thought of being positive were actually negative, although at when moment this occurred is unknown.

In terms of overall lateral flow test accuracy, false-positive results are regarded as ‘very exceptional’, while consecutive false-positive results are regarded as ‘extremely improbable’.