London (AFP)

Chelsea were held in check by Aston Villa (1-1) on Monday, increasing the pressure on coach Frank Lampard, as the Covid-19 caused the Premier League clash between Manchester City and Everton to be postponed.

Lampard had publicly criticized the attitude of his players after the defeat (3-1) against Arsenal on Saturday.

With only one victory in five matches, they are having a decidedly difficult month of December.

This poor draw against Aston Villa conceded at Stamford Bridge could have real consequences for the rest of their championship.

Sixth with 26 points, the Blues, contenders for the title, are already six points behind leaders Liverpool, while they have a game more than their competitors.

And this is not the scenario of Monday's game that could reassure Blues fans.

Olivier Giroud's goal at the half-hour mark could have allowed Frank Lampard's training to manage the match.

She was in fact very quickly joined in the score, upon returning from the locker room (El Ghazi, 50th).

Reduced by an apparent fatigue, hardly excusable in view of the depth of bench that Lampard has, his players failed to raise the tone to unbalance the second best defense in the championship.

- Leicester will have regrets -

Earlier today, Leicester had the opportunity to come back to a point from Liverpool.

But his draw (1-1) against Crystal Palace could leave regrets to Brendan Rodgers, who aligned only four of the eleven players who had hung Manchester United (2-2) two days earlier.

Crystal Palace had also conceded ten goals in two matches (7-0 against Liverpool and 3-0 at Aston Villa).

Led to the score after a goal from Wilfried Zaha shortly before the hour mark, the Leicester players were still able to react seven minutes from the end of regulation time thanks to a strike from Harvey Barnes at the entrance to the area (83rd).

The day was also marked by the postponement of the poster between Everton and Manchester City due to several positive cases of Covid in the team and in the management of the Citizens.

The holding of City's next trip to Chelsea, scheduled for Sunday January 3, is therefore uncertain, even if the number of infected people has not been communicated by the club.

"After the last round of Covid-19 tests, several positive cases have been detected within the club, in addition to the four already announced on Christmas Day," the club said in a statement.

"As the effectiveness of the bubble is compromised, there was a risk that the virus could spread to other people within the workforce and staff, or even beyond," City added.

Training will not resume until the full squad has been tested.

The duel between Everton and Manchester City is only the second match of the English Championship to be postponed since the resumption of the 2019-2020 Championship in June, but the second this month, after the rescheduling of Newcastle-Aston Villa in early December. .

This postponement comes as a record number of contaminations was recorded Monday in the United Kingdom (41,385 cases, and 385 deaths).

© 2020 AFP