Steven Gerrard will miss Aston Villa's next two Premier League fixtures after testing positive for COVID-19, the club have announced.

Villa boss Gerrard will not be able to sit in the dugout for the home game against Chelsea on Sunday or Tuesday's trip to Leeds United.

A club statement on Twitter read: "Aston Villa can confirm head coach Steven Gerrard will be unable to attend our next two Premier League matches with Chelsea and Leeds United as he will be isolating after testing positive for COVID-19."

The schedule in England's football pyramid has been ravaged by a spate of coronavirus infections affecting clubs throughout the tiers.

Villa's clash with the Blues is one of six surviving top-flight fixtures for the traditionally stacked Boxing Day schedule, though their previous encounter with Burnley was postponed due to high infection rates among the squad.

Their trip to Elland Road is already under threat with Leeds seeing their match with Liverpool called off due to an outbreak of COVID coinciding with a mounting injury crisis.