Man City cleared to face Chelsea amid COVID-19 concerns
Manchester City kick off the New Year at Chelsea on Sunday, eager to move on from a recent COVID-19 outbreak and get back to putting pressure on Premier League leaders Liverpool.
The match, cast into question when COVID-19 forced City to close facilities and postpone Monday’s game at Everton, is set to go ahead after the visitors returned to training on Wednesday.
Surging infections in London and the postponement on Wednesday of Tottenham Hotspur’s match at Fulham, Chelsea’s West London neighbours, raised doubts, but the Premier League is confident fixtures can go ahead.
“Safety remains our number one priority, and the club will continue to proceed with great caution,” City said in a statement.
“The bubble will undergo further testing in the coming days, the results of which will inform and dictate the next steps.”
On the pitch, eighth-placed City will be chasing a third successive league win while Chelsea need to turn around a run of poor form that includes three defeats and a draw in their last five games.
“At the moment, they are a crisis club because they are underperforming,” former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton told BBC radio after the West Londoners drew 1-1 with Aston Villa and slipped to sixth.
“They are flat and that’s why (manager) Frank (Lampard) needs to get a few wins under his belt and extremely quickly because it can, as we know, turn ugly at Chelsea.”
Champions Liverpool, on 33 points from 16 matches, drew 0-0 with Newcastle United on Wednesday and travel to Southampton on Monday.
The points difference between City and Liverpool is seven points but City have two games in hand.
Manchester United, second in the standings and on a nine- match unbeaten streak, host fifth-placed Aston Villa on Friday evening. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side is three points behind Liverpool.
Leeds United, fresh from a 5-0 thrashing of West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday, travel to Tottenham Hotspur for Saturday’s lunchtime kickoff, while high-flying Leicester City are at Newcastle United on Sunday.
Everton host West Ham United on Friday and Arsenal play at West Brom on Saturday.
Sheffield United, with two points from 16 Premier League games, travel to Crystal Palace, who are on a five-game winless run, on Saturday.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices
Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
Sport
Union lauds NFF for beach soccer board appointment
The West African Beach Soccer Union has commended the Nigeria Football Federation for appointing an interim board to organise the beach soccer and Futsal leagues in Nigeria.
Economy
China assures full implementation of China-Africa cooperation
Shuai Guipeng, the deputy director of the FOCAC Office at China’s foreign affairs ministry, gave the assurance on Monday in an interview in Beijing.
Education
Stakeholders seek stronger support for inclusive maths education
Stakeholders have called for sustained investment in teacher training and accessible learning resources to improve mathematics education.
Lagos
Latest Lagos Flooding: Ibeju-Lekki LG chairman tours affected areas, promises intervention
The tour assessed the extent of the damage following devastating flooding caused by persistent rainfall, which rendered residents homeless and destroyed valuable possessions.
Opinion
Some foundational arguments on state police
This historical inheritance also explains why the regional police of the First Republic became vulnerable to political manipulation.
States
Police launch manhunt for driver, conductor over attempted murder of officers
The police command in Enugu has launched a manhunt for a bus driver and his conductor for the attempted murder of officers and the snatching of a rifle.
