Everton fume at late postponement of Man City clash and demand ‘full disclosure’ from PL

Everton have expressed their disappointment at the late postponement of their clash with Manchester City and have demanded ‘full disclosure’ from the Premier League regarding the cancellation of the fixture.

The fixture between the two sides was postponed yesterday following an outbreak of coronavirus within the Manchester City camp, with Pep Guardiola’s side revealing that the latest round of Covid-19 testing had returned a number of positive cases, in addition to the four already reported on Christmas Day.

Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker both missed the win over Newcastle last weekend after testing positive and the latest round of testing revealed yet more cases with a decision to postpone the fixture based on ‘strong medical advice’.

According to the Mail, however, there were only three players who received positive test results from latest round of testing, with Premier League rules stating games should go ahead if there are 14 players available.

Everton have now asked for clarity from Premier League authorities over the postponement, revealing in a club statement their ‘regret’ at the late nature of the decision.

A statement on the club website reads: “Everton Football Club regret the postponement of tonight’s match against Manchester City – not only for the 2,000 fans who would have been attending, but for supporters on Merseyside and across the world.

“Our players were prepared for the game, as were both the team staff and everyone at Goodison. Matchday is the most important date in our calendar. And this was a big one.

“Whilst Everton will always have public safety uppermost, we will be requesting full disclosure of all the information that Manchester City provided to the Premier League so the Club can be clear on why this decision was taken.“

Everton will return to action on New Year’s Day when they host West Ham at Goodison Park, though it remains to be seen how City’s fixtures are now affected ahead of Sunday’s clash with Chelsea and a Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester United three days later.

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