TELL US WHY
Everton demanding clarity from League as ‘big one’ called off
Hilton Hotel in Liverpool, their usual base.
Everton will now ask the Premier League for full disclosure on how they arrived at the decision to get transparency on the reasons behind it.
The move to postpone City’s trip was made on medical advice as a precautionary measure. Similarly, Newcastle’s recent match against Aston Villa did not t ake place after five players tested posositive earlier r this month.
But a terse Everton statement last night read: ‘Everton regret the postponement of t oni g ht’ s match against Manchester r City — not only for the he 2,000 fans who would uld have been attending, gg, but for supporters on Merseyside and across the world.
‘Our players were prepared f or the game, as were both the team staff and everyone at Goodison. Matchday is the e most important date e in our calendar. And this his was a big one.
‘While Everton will always have public safety uppermost, we will be requesting full disclosure of all the information that Manchester City provided to the Premier League so the club can be clear on why this decision was taken.’
Premier League rules state that matches should go ahead if a club has 14 available players, including a goalkeeper, although decisions are taken on a case-bycase basis and dependant on circumstances — particularly in relation to the pandemic. The pr e c a ut i o nary measure is understood to have taken into consideration that some of those players who tested negative yesterday may return different results tomorrow.
City could not test twice, given the tight turnaround following their St Stephen’s Day’s fixture, and sources maintained that all involved at Goodison Park would have been exposed to unnecessary risk.
City s ources s uspect t he s udden outbreak — s even confirmed cases since Christmas Day — may have been caused by the logistics of last week’s Carabao Cup tie at Arsenal.
While Guardiola’s team travelled to and from London on the day to minimise risk, they spent time in a hotel pre-match and fear contraction of the contagious n new strain. Ar Arsenal i nsi s t t he ou outbreak at City cann not be connected to t their defender Gabriel’s recent positive test.
The Brazilian m missed the Gunners’ S St Stephen’s Day ga game against Chelsea becab because he was isolating after a positive test in his f am amily. He has since te tested positive, too.
Fellow Brazilians David Luiz and Willian were also absent for Arsenal against Chelsea, but this was u unrelated. They both fel felt ill but are better, hav have since tested negat i ve and are t r aining, though s separate to the main group.
The full extent of City’s outbreak is expected to become clear after another round of testi ng today. The City Football Academy has been closed indefinitely and is undergoing a deep clean.
Yesterday’s developments leave Sunday’s visit of City to Chelsea in severe doubt and a further postponement would place the club three games behind the majority of their rivals.
Next Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final at Manchester United will be rearranged rather than forfeited in the event of City being unable to fulfil the tie.
Rescheduling a number of games in an already truncated season would represent a significant headache, with City still in four competitions.
They have, however, been keen to stress that postponing last night’s match was the only logical action given the potential ramifications.
‘After t he l atest r ound of Covid-19 testing, the club returned a number of positive cases, in addition to the four already reported on Christmas Day,’ a City statement read. ‘ With t he s e c uri t y of t he bubble compromised, there posed a risk that the virus could spread further among the squad, the staff and potentially beyond.
‘ Based on strong medical advice the Premier League, in consultation with both clubs, have decided to postpone the (Everton) fixture. All positive cases involving players and staff will observe a period of self-isolation in accordance with PL and Government protocol on quarantine.’
Some would argue that the postponement benefits Everton, as they would have been without Allan, James Rodriguez, Lucas Digne, Richarlison and Fabian Delph, but there was frustration within the squad — who lie third
— when they were sent home.
Guardiola was unsure who he was going to have available yesterday morning and said after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Newcastle: ‘Covid is here.
‘It is not just here in Man City, it is all around the world attacking hard, so that’s why we have to be careful and what we want in the next days is for Kyle and Gabriel not to have symptoms and recover.’
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce was fearful for City after the two initial positive tests, claiming his team are still shaken by their experiences earli er in t he month.
‘I hope, for City’s sake, that they don’t go into double figures,’ Bruce said. ‘We are witnessing the after-effects.’
Should today’s tests be negative the Chelsea- City match could go ahead. Chelsea also face their upcoming FA Cup thirdround tie against Morecambe being postponed after an outbreak at the League Two club.