Aston Villa players will not return to training until Tuesday...at the earliest
Villa’s players will not return to Bodymoor Heath until tomorrow at the earliest as the club looks to bring its Covid-19 outbreak under control.
Saturday’s home match with Burnley was postponed barely two hours before kick-off after a rise in positive cases left the hosts unable to field a team.
Those players who returned negative tests were granted two days off and a decision on when to resume training will be taken today. Under protocols introduced last week, players and staff are required to return a negative lateral flow test before being permitted access to the training ground.
Villa have not disclosed the number of new cases and it is too soon to say whether the Boxing Day visit of Chelsea will go ahead.
Several players who missed last Tuesday’s 2-0 win at Norwich due to positive tests are scheduled to resume training later this week, though any player who returned a positive test on Saturday morning is required to isolate for 10 days, as per government guidelines.
Premier League clubs will meet today to discuss a possible “circuit-breaker” after six of the weekend’s 10 matches were postponed due to Covid issues. Villa’s stance on the subject is unclear though, speaking on Friday, boss Steven Gerrard claimed his preference was for the season to continue if possible.
Gerrard had been eager to play Saturday’s match after winning four of his first six matches in charge.
But the results of PCR tests, coupled with the absence of several players due to injury, left them unable to field a team and a request for the match to be postponed was approved by the Premier League.
