Manchester City announce three more COVID-19 cases, three days after Chelsea match

Manchester City have announced three more positive COVID-19 tests at their club this morning, with two players and one staff member entering quarantine as a result. The two players have been identified as youngster Cole Palmer and backup goalkeeper Scott Carson.

That doesn’t sound too impactful overall — and they have others returning from quarantine now — but Palmer often trains with the first-team while Carson was on the bench for City against Chelsea on Sunday, before which game he had tested negative alongside the rest of the team who had participated. But, as we know, the tests are not 100 per cent foolproof and cannot immediately detect the virus, during which period a person might already be able to transmit the disease.

So, the concern now is that City haven’t actually contained their outbreak. Getting things under control is precisely why the Premier League agreed to postpone their game against Everton. And it looked like they had, since all the non-quarantiners tested negative ahead of the Chelsea match. Hopefully these new cases then are from outside sources rather than from City players and personnel continuing to pass it around amongst themselves — and more concerningly, to other teams and players in the Premier League, which would eventually result in the league suspending play.

(City also confirmed four cases in their Women’s team earlier this week.)

For now, City’s League Cup semifinal against Manchester United tonight is set to go ahead. The next test round of testing at Chelsea will be ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup match against Morecambe FC.