According to the Athletic (subscription required), Aston Villa’s Premier League encounter against Everton is set to be postponed due to the west Midlands outfit’s Covid-19 crisis.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein and Gregg Evans have found that nine first-team Villa players and five staff members tested positive for coronavirus last week.
Villa were actually initially set to be playing Spurs tonight, but the outbreak that left them to field a side of Under-23s and Under-18s players in the FA Cup against Liverpool, has disrupted another tie now.
The Athletic report that the official cancellation of this fixture is expected to be approved by the Premier League board on Thursday.
With 10 days of self-isolation required before those who have tested positive – or those who have been in close contact with someone who has done so – most of of Villa player’s and staff won’t be able to engage in team training until Sunday – the day of their clash against Everton.
This is of course the right decision, with the health and safety of Villa’s and opposition players and staff in mind – as well as the integrity of the competition in the top-flight.
Only being able to train with the full first-team on the day of a game makes the fixture going ahead impossible.
This will leave Aston Villa with three less games played than all but two of the other teams in the division (City and Burnley) – who they will still have featured two times less than.
its 4 games in hand then man city newcastle spurs and now everton