Aston Villa seek historic Boxing Day victory against Chelsea
Steven Gerrard tests positive for coronavirus
Aston Villa will be attempting to end a 17-year streak when they square off against Chelsea on Boxing Day.
On Christmas Day, it was revealed that manager Steven Gerrard would be unable to take his place in the dugout after testing positive for coronavirus.
As it stands, however, the match at Villa Park remains scheduled to go ahead, and Villa will be looking to achieve something that they last did in 2004.
Villa have not posted back-to-back home wins versus the Blues in the Premier League since a 3-2 victory on April 12 of that year.
On that occasion, three goals either side of half time defied a double from Hernan Crespo, the first having given Chelsea an early advantage.
The corresponding fixture last season occurred on the final day, Bertrand Traore and Anwar El Ghazi getting on the scoresheet.
Meanwhile Aston Villa have announced that manager Steven Gerrard has tested positive for coronavirus.
Earlier last week, Gerrard suggested that the West Midlands outfit were continuing to cope with an ongoing coronavirus outbreak, revealing that he may be required to call upon a number of ‘fringe’ players against Chelsea.
Less than 24 hours before the Boxing Day clash at Villa Park, the Premier League outfit have revealed that the Englishman will not be able to take his place in the dugout.
Steven Gerrard tests positive for coronavirus
An official statement read: “Aston Villa can confirm Head Coach Steven Gerrard will be unable to attend our next two Premier League matches with Chelsea and Leeds United as he will be isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.”
While there is no suggestion that Sunday’s fixture is under threat, Tuesday’s encounter at Leeds United is currently unlikely to go ahead with the Yorkshire team’s training ground being closed due to their own coronavirus outbreak.
Villa’s following game is at Brentford on January 2, and Gerrard will be in a position to attend that match providing that he records two negative tests in the days preceding the trip to London.
Read this? https://sportsnow.com.ng/havertz-tests-negative-for-covid-19-returns-to-chelsea-training/
