MANCHESTER, England : Manchester City canceled Pep Guardiola’s news conference on Friday after the manager’s COVID-19 test returned inconclusive, the club said.
Guardiola was scheduled to talk to the media ahead of the Premier League leader’s match at Newcastle on Sunday.
Half of the scheduled weekend matches have already been postponed because of COVID-19 outbreaks at clubs, underscoring the worsening health emergency in Britain as the omicron variant spreads.
Guardiola attended Sergio Aguero’s retirement announcement in Barcelona on Wednesday and is now awaiting the result of another test.
The latest postponements brought the total number of top-flight games called off this week to nine.
The league has already reintroduced emergency measures — more frequent testing and wearing face masks indoors among them — but said its intention was to maintain the current schedule “where safely possible,” even as some managers called for a brief suspension in play.
The league said its board was assessing applications to postpone matches on a case-by-case basis.
Guardiola news conference off after inconclusive COVID test
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Guardiola news conference off after inconclusive COVID test
- Guardiola was scheduled to talk to the media ahead of the Premier League leader's match at Newcastle on Sunday
- He attended Sergio Aguero's retirement announcement in Barcelona on Wednesday and is now awaiting the result of another test
Guardiola hails Man City’s ‘massive’ win over Newcastle
- Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola labelled Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday as a “massive” moment in the Premier League title race.
Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Nico O’Reilly put City ahead in the first half and restored the lead before half-time after Lewis Hall had equalized.
City weren’t at their best in the second half, but they held on to pile pressure on spluttering Arsenal, who travel to Tottenham for the north London derby on Sunday.
Guardiola knew it was essential to make Arsenal sweat.
“Massive. Newcastle is an incredible team, awesome in physicality and speed they have up front. Physicality in the middle. Really tough but the team was unbelievable,” he said.
“It’s coming in best part of the season. Every single game will be similar to today.”
After finishing without a trophy last season, City are back in the hunt for the seventh English title of Guardiola’s reign.
They will have a game in hand on Arsenal after this weekend and are guaranteed to win the title if they win their last 11 league matches.
Guardiola has embarked on an expensive overhaul of City’s squad in the last 12 months, shedding aging stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Kyle Walker and bringing in the likes of Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
The Spaniard is well aware that his new generation largely lacks the experience of winning under the pressure of a title race, which made their gritty success against Newcastle even more meaningful.
“70 percent of the players have never been in that situation, and I don’t play. So we have to live it, they know that every game will be like this,” he said.
“Especially at home, with five home games left. Today was the best crowd of the year, it was unbelievable with our people, really proud to be manager of these incredible people and fans.
“Of course in terms of points it’s important, but we have to improve to have chance to compete until the end. Now we deserve three more days off. Then another battle in Leeds.”
Guardiola singled out O’Reilly for praise after the young England midfielder’s pair of clinical finishes showed he won’t be affected by the strain of chasing Arsenal.
“Nico give us in the middle that physicality that we need. He now plays in his position,” he said.
“He has always played that, he is so complete and so young. I am really pleased the academy produced these incredible players, Nico, Phil (Foden), Rico (Lewis).”
