MANCHESTER: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said that five of his players, who had tested positive for coronavirus, won't be available for the clash against Chelsea on Sunday.
Earlier, Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus and England defender Kyle Walker tested positive for the coronavirus, and three more positive cases were confirmed on December 28.
With an outbreak of the infection in the squad, the game against Everton was postponed until further notice.
With no further positive cases confirmed in the intervening period, Sunday's game at Chelsea will go ahead, but Guardiola's options have been significantly reduced.
"We have five [players out] right now. Five players. The first cases were two players and two staff - and then three players the second time," Manchester City's website quoted Guardiola as saying.
"We have to respect the privacy of players. But tomorrow you will see the three important players who are not there. I am not allowed to tell you," he added.
Manchester City had informed that they reported a 'number of positive cases' after their clash with Everton was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"We had enough players to play Everton - we wanted to play - but on the day of the game with the day before four cases, the virus was inside our Club," Guardiola said.
"I called Carlo Ancelotti to announce the situation because we could play, but if we travel led and we had been in touch with our infected players, we could infect Everton," he added.