BY ASHLEY PREECE
Steven Gerrard has confirmed that two Aston Villa players have now tested positive for Covid-19 with the pair remaining nameless ahead of tomorrow’s fixture with Norwich.
Gerrard will also be without the injured Marvelous Nakamba for the trip to Carrow Road after the Zimbabwe international picked up a knee problem in the defeat to Liverpool.
“Yes (he’s out) unfortunately,” Gerrard said. “He received an injury in the game against Liverpool and we sent him for an MRI scan, which has come back and it’s not good news so the idea is to send him to a specialist on Tuesday.
“We’ll know more in terms of the damage in terms of what we need to do moving forward.
“The news sitting here right not is not good regarding Marvelous who’s been outstanding in his performances so far.
“He’ll see a specialist on Tuesday for a knee injury.”
With Leon Bailey and Betrand Traore still out with their muscle problems, Villa’s missing list is beginning to stack up for Gerrard given the double Covid blow ahead of kick-off against Norwich.
On the club’s Covid situation, Gerrard said: “We’ve got a couple of (positive) cases on the playing side and we’ve got a couple of cases on the staff side.
“Due to medical confidentiality, I’m obviously not going to reveal any names but, yeah, that’s not what we wanted.
“We’ll have to deal with the situation and adapt. From a playing point of view, there will be an opportunity for others to come in and help us.
“We’ll try and prepare the best way that we can for tomorrow night’s game and we wish those with positive cases in the last 24 hours well.
Christian Purslow, Villa’s CEO, held a meeting at Bodymoor Heath this morning in a bid to step up Covid protocol measures following four positive tests amongst staff and players.
Gerrard added: “We’ve got a big squad here that we’ll have to use. Everyone has to be ready because this Covid situation looks like it’s going downhill rather than going in a positive direction.
“Everyone has been told this morning to be ready and to be switched on ready to play. We’ve also reminded them of the protocols and guidelines that are in place.
“We have got a really high double-jabbed rate at the club. I’m sure that will be the case with the booster situation. I’ll be having mine in the next few days.
“From a managerial situation, we have to adapt and deal with the current situation which means sometimes you can’t name squads and teams, because during the testing process, there could be positive or negative tests.
“We have to be ready to adapt.”
Villa, meanwhile, uploaded a clip from training this morning with Ollie Watkins, Emi Buendia, Axel Tuanzebe and Keinan Davis involved, as were under-23 players Lamare Bogarde, Aaron Ramsey and left-back Ben Chrisene. – Birmingham Mail