Man City Cancels Pre-Match Press Conference Over Guardiola's Result

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has returned an inconclusive Covid-19 test, prompting the club to cancel Friday's pre-match news conference, according to reports.

The Spanish tactician Guardiola is waiting for the result of a PCR test while City's match away at Newcastle United on Sunday – one of five matches being played after several fixtures were postponed – is expected to go ahead.

The Premier League has postponed five games that were scheduled for the weekend due to Covid-19 outbreaks at various clubs. Nine games have been postponed since last week.

Newcastle host league leaders Manchester City on Sunday, one of five games scheduled to go ahead, but the visitors are waiting on a PCR result to see if manager Pep Guardiola has tested positive, with the club cancelling his news conference.

"I think it's probably on a knife-edge would be my verdict on it. I think when you start losing players to Covid, then the worry for me is that the competition becomes slightly unfair. I don't think anyone wants to see that," Howe told reporters.

"That's the biggest thing people want to see - a fair league. They don't want to see disparity in games and players missing.

"No, we all want the product to continue, I'm desperate to continue the programme myself, but I do think that the welfare of the players has to come first and the supporters has to come first.

"I know that the people in charge of the Premier League will do that. I think there's a lot to consider, it's not an easy decision to make. I'm well aware how complex everything is."

The most recent Premier League data on vaccinations from October found that 81 per cent of players had received one dose and 68 per cent were double jabbed – a low percentage compared to the Italian Serie A where 98 per cent of its players have received two vaccinations.