Frank Lampard confirms game against Manchester City is on for now

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has revealed some members of the club staff have tested positive for coronavirus but no players have.

Lampard was speaking ahead of the Blues’ showdown with Manchester City on Sunday afternoon and confirmed the game is on as it stands.

‘I haven’t been given the chances of the game being cancelled. At the moment, the game is on,’ he said on Friday.

‘Man City have had some positives in their training ground and that’s the situation. We’ve had a couple of positives ourselves, not on the playing staff.’ 

Whether Chelsea’s clash with City would go ahead had been up in the air all week following a coronavirus outbreak withing Pep Guardiola’s squad. 

City’s match against Everton was postponed on Monday after multiple positive cases of Covid-19 at the club.

Three of City’s team returned positive tests on Monday, and the match at Goodison Park was called off around five hours before kick-off.

Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus were already in self-isolation, along with two other City staff, after contracting the virus last week, before another trio of players tested positive.

The move to postpone City’s trip was made on medical advice as a precautionary measure. Similarly, Newcastle’s recent match against Aston Villa did not take place after five players tested positive earlier this month. 

City were given the Covid all clear with no new cases after round of emergency testing on Wednesday, allowing them to resume training ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Chelsea.

Pep Guardiola’s squad reported to the City Football Academy on Tuesday for tests after five players and at least two staff members contracted the virus.

Those results all came back negative on Wednesday afternoon and the team trained shortly after. The training base was partially re-opened.