Newcastle United’s game against Everton has been postponed following a request from the North East club as they could not field a team of senior players because of a mixture of Covid and injuries.
Newcastle made the request to the Premier League on Tuesday following their 1-1 draw with Manchester United, as revealed by Telegraph Sport, and confirmation the game would be rearranged came that evening.
Sources were always confident the match against Everton, scheduled for Thursday, December 30th, would have to be postponed because of the severity of the problems getting enough players on the pitch.
It is also understood that the game against Southampton on January 2nd is also at risk although no decision has been made at this stage.
A statement from Newcastle read: “A number of players and staff members have returned positive results during routine PCR tests in recent days, while several players have suffered injuries during an extremely busy period of fixtures. Accordingly, Newcastle United lodged a formal request with the Premier League to postpone Thursday’s fixture at Goodison Park, and that has been approved by the Premier League Board. The match, which was scheduled to kick off at 7:30pm (GMT), will now be rescheduled and a new date and time will be confirmed in due course.
“Newcastle United would like to place on record its thanks to Everton FC and the Premier League for their cooperation and understanding. The club also wishes to offer its sincere apologies to supporters of both clubs for any inconvenience caused by these circumstances.”
Newcastle were the first Premier League club to suffer a major Covid outbreak last season and have been hit for a second time this week.
The likes of Joe Willock, Isaac Hayden and Ciaran Clark were all absent from the match day squad on Monday and it is thought there have been more cases in the last 48 hours.
Although Newcastle delivered their best performance of the season against Manchester United they were unable to secure a much needed victory and the result came at a huge cost with Ryan Fraser, Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson all taken off injured. It is also thought that Fabian Schar and Jonjo Shelvey also picked up injuries in the game although they made it through until the final whistle.
The postponement means Newcastle fans will have to wait for a reunion with former Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez. The Spaniard left St James’ Park in the summer of 2019 at the end of a three-year contract and was many people’s first choice to replace Steve Bruce.
But the delay in completing a takeover by a Saudi Arabian led consortium saw Benitez run out of patience and he took the Everton job back in the summer despite widespread opposition from supporters.
Since then Eddie Howe has proven to be a popular alternative since his appointment in November but the battle between the two is almost certain to have to wait until the fixture can be rearranged for later next year.
