Aston Villa - Newcastle United will not take place as originally scheduled this Friday and has been postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the Newcastle players and staff.
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Both clubs released a statement confirming the decision taken by the Premier League, and this is the first game which has been postponed this season due to COVID-19. A new date and time for the game will be announced in due course.
Newcastle confirmed they had submitted a request to the Premier League to postpone the game after a sharp increase in positive cases at their training ground.
The request came after a “significant increase in COVID-19 cases at the Magpies’ Training Centre” as Newcastle say that “several players and staff members are now self-isolating at home after returning positive tests.”
Here is the statement from the Premier League in full:
“Following a Premier League Board meeting today, Newcastle United’s fixture at Aston Villa, due to be played at 20:00 GMT, Friday 4 December, has been postponed. Newcastle lodged a request with the Premier League to rearrange the game following a significant increase in COVID-19 cases at the club, which resulted in Public Health England North East (PHE) advising that their training facilities remain closed.
“The Premier League Board agreed, as a consequence, that the club are unable to train and adequately and safely prepare for their match on Friday. The decision has been taken in consultation with Newcastle United and Aston Villa, and following extensive consultation with PHE and Premier League medical advisors, with the health of players and staff the priority.
“Newcastle correctly notified PHE regarding a number of positive COVID-19 test results, which is standard practice under Government and Premier League guidelines. PHE convened a meeting with Newcastle and the Premier League yesterday to assess the situation and advised the club’s training ground should remain closed and no group training would be permitted between players until Friday at the earliest.
“All players and training ground staff will be re-tested this week and another meeting between the club, PHE and the Premier League will take place to assess the test results. The Premier League wishes those with COVID-19 a safe and speedy recovery and will rearrange the postponed fixture against Aston Villa in due course.”