Villa play despite a Covid outbreak
ASTON Villa have been hit by a coronavirus outbreak - but their game against Norwich is not in doubt.
Steven Gerrard confirmed “a couple of staff members and a couple of players” have tested positive for Covid-19, which led to the Villa boss cancelling training on Sunday.
However, the squad trained as normal on Monday and Gerrard insists Villa are fully focused on the Premier League game at Carrow Road tonight.
He said yesterday: “I haven’t changed any protocols, I have just listened to the guidance and tried to stick to all the guidelines.
“I made the decision yesterday because it was a recovery day and because we didn’t have a pitch session and on the back of receiving a couple of positive cases I thought it was just common sense to just cancel the session.
“We re-tested this morning and we have a couple of staff and a couple of players missing for the foreseeable future - but the vast majority have come through the test and we look forward to competing against Norwich tomorrow.”
Gerrard did not want to name those players who tested positive and continued: “I will stick to the medical confidentiality. I want to wish those who have the positive cases well.
“They are isolating so we send our best wishes to them. I will speak to them and fingers crossed it is contained now.”
It is not known if those who have tested positive featured in Villa’s defeat to Liverpool on Saturday.
Gerrard also revealed Marvelous Nakamba is set for a spell out after suffering an injury at Anfield.
Villa last week lost Leon Bailey for “a number of weeks” after he limped off against Manchester City with a quad problem.