Manchester City return to training after no new positive Covid-19 tests
- by Florence Jennings
- in Sport
- — Jan 1, 2021
THE Premier League have announced a record 18 cases of coronavirus in the latest round of testing after Manchester City and Sheffield United were hit hard.
Following the cancellation of the club's match against Everton, City said in a statement that "the club returned a number of positive cases, in addition to the four already reported on Christmas Day".
Manchester City's fixture with Everton at Goodison Park tonight has been postponed due to a covid outbreak in Pep Guardiola's squad.
The club conducted a further round of testing yesterday to determine the extent of the cluster - the results were not known by press time - while their training ground has been closed indefinitely with deep cleaning under way.
Pundit Gary Neville took to Twitter to suggest that Orient will be watching the situation very closely, seemingly wanting to see City forced out of the competition if the same rules apply to the big boys as the lower league sides.
The Premier League guidelines, however, state that requests for a postponement will be rejected unless a club has fewer than 14 players available.
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The club said their squad and associated bubble will have testing before a decision is made whether to resume training.
'The Premier League can today confirm that between Monday, 21 December and Sunday, 27 December, 1,479 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19, ' a statement from the league read.
The likes of Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker were confirmed COVID positive on Christmas Day, while three new players have now been infected. All those games must now be in doubt pending further test.
"The Premier League continues to have full confidence in its Covid-19 protocols and being able to continue to play our fixtures as scheduled. The League wishes those with Covid-19 a safe and speedy recovery".
Football in England came to a grinding halt when the first lockdown was confirmed back in March and Premier League clubs will head into the New Year hoping they can avoid history being repeated.
