Villa cleared to face Liverpool in FA Cup but Premier League games in doubt

Aston Villa’s FA Cup third round tie at home to Liverpool on Friday will go ahead as planned but Wednesday’s Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur is in doubt after a COVID-19 outbreak in the first-team squad.

Villa’s chief executive Christian Purslow said 10 first-team players are among 14 positive cases of coronavirus at the club.

The club are preparing to field a team of youngsters after the entire first-team squad went into isolation.

Mark Delaney, Villa’s under-23 coach, is set to take charge in the absence of manager Dean Smith and his backroom staff.

“We have obviously been faced with a rather difficult situation,” Purslow told Sky Sports.

“In the last six days, we went from no positive tests to 14 positive tests as of early yesterday (Thursday) morning, including I think 10 first-team players.

“At that moment, we had to take the decision to get everybody in the first-team squad into isolation.”

Purslow said it was too early to judge whether Villa’s league games against Spurs on Wednesday and Everton on Jan. 16 will go ahead.

“We are now in the hands of the Premier League medical people, Public Health England, and the experts will have to form an opinion as to whether the outbreak has been contained,” he added.

“We will wait for the next round of testing this weekend.”