Pep’s pop at Everton in Covid row

PEP GUARDIOLA slammed Everton’s conduct yesterday as the fallout from Monday’s postponed match continued. Manchester City’s boss (right) insisted his side wanted to face Everton, who have demanded full disclosure about the decision to call off the game at short notice due to City’s Covid-19 outbreak. Guardiola had phoned Carlo Ancelotti to explain the situation and the Everton manager — who wished City well yesterday — understood the reasoning, with Covid cases at the club having risen to seven on the day of the game. Ancelotti’s employers, however, were left infuriated when City returned to training on Wednesday. ‘There are clubs making statements complaining when it (the postponement) is just thinking about health when a lot of people in the UK are dying every day,’ said Guardiola. ‘I prefer the

statement from Carlo Ancelotti than the one from the club. ‘We had enough players to play against Everton. We wanted to play. But the day of the game we had three more cases. The virus was inside our training centre. ‘We informed the Premier League. What happened if the Everton players were infected from us? It was a huge risk.’ Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus were confirmed as having tested positive before the Boxing Day win over Newcastle, but Guardiola revealed the Premier League asked City not to name the three additional sufferers. Goalkeeper Ederson and midfielder Tommy Doyle, 19, have said on social media that they are self-isolating. City go to Chelsea tomorrow without five players, while two staff members have also contracted the virus. Yesterday’s round of testing revealed no fresh positives and City will be checked again today before travelling south to Stamford Bridge. Guardiola added: ‘Just look at Newcastle. I spoke with Steve Bruce and he told me how difficult it was. More than 20 people infected there, it can happen anywhere. ‘The most important thing is the welfare of the people. This is not a joke. You can be positive and nothing or you can be positive and be in trouble.’