Manchester City’s clash against Everton was called off last night, with a coronavirus outbreak in the squad forcing the Cityzens to self isolate to control the spread of the virus. Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker were confirmed to have contracted the virus by the club on Christmas day.
Here is the official statement released by Manchester City regarding the COVID-19 outbreak in the club:
“All positive cases involving players and staff will observe a period of self-isolation in accordance with Premier League and UK Government protocol on quarantine.
“The first team training ground at City Football Academy will close for an indeterminate period, with the squad and associated bubble undergoing testing before any decision is made for training to resume.”
Pep Guardiola’s team were supposed to face Chelsea on Sunday, the 3rd of January, and had a Manchester derby against their fierce rivals, United on Wednesday.
In all likelihood, both fixtures look on the verge of being postponed. The match against their local rivals seems almost sure to be postponed, with the rules governing the fixtures making it clear that byes would not be given following the fourth round.
City are currently 8th in the table, with two games in hand on the rest of the league. They also possess the best defensive record in the league, which is a sharp comeback from the 5-2 defeat at the Etihad right before they signed Ruben Dias.
With Guardiola committing his future to the club recently, another Carabao Cup victory seems almost routine for the Cityzens. However, they must give it their all to ensure that complacency doesn’t get the better of themselves.
