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Arsenal Were Hit By Positive Covid-19 Test Ahead Of Manchester City Game

Arsenal Were Hit By Positive Covid-19 Test Ahead Of Manchester City Game

The Gunners' return to action was disrupted by the fact that three players had to self isolate for three days before their return fixture.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Arsenal's return to action has been less than ideal, with back-to-back losses in less than a week, and their preparation was damaged by a positive Covid-19 test ahead of the Manchester City game.

Mikel Arteta's side were ponderous against City on Wednesday, with the Arsenal manager's first return to the Etihad Stadium since leaving as Pep Guardiola's assistant in December ending in a 3-0 loss.

The Gunners were hit with two early injuries and two monumental David Luiz screw ups, after the Brazilian had come off the bench as a result of one of the injuries, but things actually started going wrong the week before the game.

According to The Athletic's David Ornstein, oracle of all things Arsenal, one player tested positive for Covid-19 at the end of the week before the game, meaning he had to self-isolate for seven days.

Two other players were deemed to have spent sufficient time to be in 'close contact' with him and had to have 14 days of quarantine.

The report says that the club believed the tests to be false positives, with no one showing symptoms and having previously tested negative, and privately tested the players again that weekend, with the tests coming back negative.

Those players then took part in the official Premier League tests again at the beginning of the week and, under government guidelines, were allowed to return to training on the Tuesday afternoon for one final session before the game on Wednesday.

The trio, who missed three days of training during their self isolated spell, were part of the squad that travelled to Manchester by plane for the game.

Luiz had a mare of a game after coming on as a substitute. Image: PA Images
Luiz had a mare of a game after coming on as a substitute. Image: PA Images

Arteta's plans on the night of the game were in disarray just 24 minutes into the game with both Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari going off injured to be replaced by Dani Ceballos and Luiz.

The north London side later lost Luiz to a red card, leading to City's second, after the former Chelsea defender had already messed up for the opener.

Worse was to come on Saturday when the Gunners' lost goalkeeper Bernd Leno to an injury that looks like it will keep him out for a long time, after Neal Maupay knocked the keeper down and he fell awkwardly.

Guendouzi is likely to be punished after clashing with Maupay. Image: PA Images
Guendouzi is likely to be punished after clashing with Maupay. Image: PA Images

Matteo Guendouzi is also likely to miss three games through suspension after grabbing Maupay by the neck after the Brighton striker had rubbed salt in the wound by scoring the winner for Graham Potter's side in injury time.

Things haven't been going well at all for Arteta, whose positive test caused the first postponement of any Premier League game, can the Spanish manager turn things around at the Emirates?

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