West Ham manager David Moyes had been at the London Stadium for almost an hour before he and two players were sent home for positive coronavirus tests.

The Hammers and Hull were so close to kick-off that defender Issa Diop and midfielder Josh Cullen were initially named in the team for the Carabao Cup match.

But 15 minutes later the line-up was changed with both players omitted, and when the teams came out there was no sign of Moyes, with assistant Alan Irvine taking charge.

Irvine said: “At 20 past six we suddenly got some information from our doctor and head physio to say there were three positive tests, the manager and the two players.

“We’d had contact in so far as we were in the same area of the stadium as David.

“We’d been at the stadium for about two hours before the match started.

“We were shocked by the news, we’ve had so many tests and not had any positive.

“But we’ve been very particular about protocol right from the start, the medical team are very aware of what has been happening and we’ve followed all the protocol, and we’ll be following protocol now.”

West Ham revealed all three are asymptomatic and will now follow Public Health England and Premier League guidelines and protocols, which will mean they have to isolate for 10 days.

West Ham’s next match is at home to Wolves on Sunday, while it is understood Arsenal, against whom they played at the weekend, will continue as planned as all protocols were followed.

This third-round tie went ahead as scheduled with Sebastien Haller and Andriy Yarmolenko both scoring twice and Robert Snodgrass also on target in a 5-1 victory.

Mallik Wilks pulled one back for Hull as West Ham booked a fourth-round trip to Everton or Fleetwood.