Everton's scheduled home match with Newcastle United on Thursday has been called off due to Eddie Howe's side being unable to field a starting-eleven of senior players.
This is the third fixture in succession Rafa Benitez's side have seen postponed, on the back of the club's scheduled Boxing Day trip to Burnley and home clash with Leicester City on December 19
Commenting on the situation, a Newcastle club statement read: "Newcastle United's Premier League fixture at Everton on Thursday evening has been postponed following Covid-19 cases and injuries amongst the Magpies’ first team squad."
An Everton club tweet added: "Our game at home to Newcastle United on Thursday has been postponed after the Premier League Board granted the visitors’ request due to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases and injuries in their squad."
The Magpies contacted the Premier League following their 1-1 draw with Manchester United last night after concerns regarding player availability, according to a latest report from the Telegraph.
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Newcastle could only name eight substitutes against the Red Devils, two of which were goalkeepers as well as two youth players as the club battled to name a full squad.
Ciaran Clark, Federico Fernandez, Jamal Lewis, Joe Willock and Paul Dummett and were all absent on Monday evening and matters were made worse during the contest as Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson were forced to leave the field through injury.
It is also suspected that Fabian Schar and Jonjo Shelvey also picked up injuries during the 90 minutes, though this is yet to be confirmed.
