MANCHESTER CITY boss Pep Guardiola has canceled his pre-match press conference this afternoon following a Covid alert.

The Spaniard was due to sit down with the media this afternoon to get a preview of his side’s trip to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United.

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But an inconclusive test result for the 50-year-old man led to the scrapping of the presser.

Guardiola will now have to undergo a PCR test to determine if he is indeed positive for Covid.

If he is positive, he will need to self-isolate for the next 10 days.

Guardiola was back in Barcelona this week for Sergio Aguero’s retirement press conference and appears to be posing for photos without a mask.

The cancellation of Guardiola’s presser comes after several Covid outbreaks forced the postponement of FIVE Premier League fixtures this weekend.

Manchester United, Southampton, Watford, West Ham and Everton’s respective clashes with Brighton, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Norwich and Leicester have all fallen victim to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

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Massive outbreaks in Prem’s squads prompted calls to postpone this weekend’s series of matches.

Brentford chief Thomas Frank led the calls, saying: “We think we should postpone the full round of Premier League games this weekend.

“Covid cases are exploding in every Premier League club, everyone is facing it and having problems.

“Postponing this round and also the Carabao Cup round would give everyone at least a week, or four or five days to clean up and do everything on the training ground so that everything is clean and you break the chain.”

Frank, like many others, thinks a temporary shutdown could save the list of festive events for fans.

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He added: “We fully respect the fact that we want to play and it is important that football continues, and that way we can make sure Boxing Day continues, I’m 100% sure.

“This variant of Omicron is working like wildfire around the world and I think we need to do everything we can to protect and avoid it.

“I think there is a lot we can do by shutting down the training grounds for three, four or five days and then we can start over.”

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