Ahead of Super Saturday Match Between Man City Vs Chelsea cracker, Pep Guardiola says his squad have been hit by fresh COVID cases ahead of our home clash with Champions Of Europe
An 11-game winning run has taken City 10 points clear of the Blues at the top of the table, while third-placed Liverpool are 11 points back with a game in hand.
The Genius Media Nigeria reports that the City boss, who has only just returned from self-isolation himself, was asked if the reported outbreak of the last few weeks had improved and whether he would have more players available for Saturday’s game.
But he says while some are back in training, others are likely to be ruled out with the virus.
“No, some people are coming, some people are positive again,” said Guardiola.
“When you test twice negative you come back otherwise you stay at home isolating, which happens at all the [Premier League] clubs in the last three months.
“We have some new cases, yeah, but we want privacy, I can’t tell you [who is out].
“We are used to it, unfortunately, to handling this situation for a long time. It’s happened for one or two years.
“We adapt and hopefully the cases are handled and players come back in a good condition.
“I think the COVID is all around the world. It is not that in this part of the world there is no COVID. That is not true.
“We had a lot of cases and a lot of injuries. We played Aston Villa with 11 first-team players.
“The last four or five games we played with academy players on the bench. We are in the same situation as all other clubs.
“Injuries may be less because our medical department is incredible. But in terms of COVID, we are the same.
“It is not that we are smarter or wiser or do the protocols better. When the virus comes into the bubble, everyone suffers. There’s no exception.”
Chelsea need a repeat of their Champions League final victory over Manchester City to rekindle their Premier League title challenge with the English champions threatening to build a realistically unassailable lead just days into the new year.
See Full Saturday Fixtures:
Manchester City v Chelsea (1230)
Newcastle v Watford
Norwich v Everton
Burnley v Leicester
Wolves v Southampton (all 1500)
Aston Villa v Manchester United (1730)
