Friday's scheduled game between Aston Villa and Newcastle postponed due to Coronavirus

LONDON - The Premier League have postponed this Friday's game between Aston Villa and Newcastle United due to an outbreak of coronavirus among the Newcastle players and staff.

It is the first Premier League match to be cancelled due to an outbreak of COVID-19 since football returned in June.

"Newcastle lodged a request with the Premier League to rearrange the game following a significant increase in COVID-19 cases at the club which resulted in Public Health England North East (PHE) advising that their training facilities remain closed."

"The Premier League Board agreed, as a consequence, that the club are unable to train adequately and safely prepare for their match on Friday," confirmed the Premier League in a communique that explained the decision had been made "with the health of players and staff the priority".

After Newcastle's last game - a 2-0 win away to Crystal Palace on November 27th, first team coach, Steve Bruce confirmed the club had three players self-isolating after testing positive for the virus and a further round of tests over the weekend returned more positive tests, leading to the club closing its training ground on Monday.

"All players and training ground staff will be re-tested this week," report the Premier League, adding the fixture will be "rearranged in due course".