Premier League: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, 7 first-team players COVID-positive

A massive COVID-19 outbreak has been reported at Premier League club Manchester City ahead of their match against Swindon Town in the FA Cup on Friday.

The club released a statement on their website, announcing the outbreak, and said, “Pep Guardiola will miss tomorrow evening’s FA Cup trip to Swindon Town after testing positive for Covid-19. The City manager recorded a positive test on Tuesday along with assistant Juanma Lillo. Both are now isolating, along with a number of other positive cases within the City first team bubble.”

Also read | EFL Cup: Arsenal vs Liverpool postponed after Reds report surge in COVID-19 cases

As it stands, 21 members of City’s first-team squad have tested positive for COVID-19. Among them, 14 are backroom staff, while seven are players.

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, however, City insist that their FA Cup 3rd Round tie with Swindon Town will go ahead as scheduled on Friday, with assistant coach Rodolfo Borrell taking charge of the team.

However, as it stands, it is not clear which players have tested positive. City manager Pep Guardiola had said last week that both Phil Foden and Oleksandr Zinchenko had tested positive for COVID-19 and it is understood that they are among the seven first-team players who have been infected.

Also read | Chelsea gifted goals by Spurs to gain 2-0 cup semifinal lead

Manchester City has been sporadically hit by COVID-19 since November 2021, when Kevin de Bruyne tested positive while during the international break with Belgium. Subsequently, Rodri and Kyle Walker tested positive for COVID-19 in December and missed games while they were isolating and recovering.

The newest batch of infections at Manchester City come at a time when the UK is witnessing a massive surge in COVID-19 cases, courtesy of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus. Several Premier League teams have had their games postponed due to large-scale outbreaks that rendered them unable to field a team of 14 players (13 outfield players, one goalkeeper).