Arsenal Coach Mikel Arteta has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus and Premier League match against Brighton this weekend has now been cancelled, MySportDab reports.
Arsenal’s Premier League game vs Brighton this Saturday (3pm) has been cancelled after the Gunners confirmed that Coach Mikel Arteta has tested positive for the coronavirus, with the entire first-team squad going into self-isolation.
An official Arsenal statement read: “Our London Colney training centre has been shut after Coach Mikel Arteta tested positive to COVID-19 on Thursday evening.
“Arsenal staffs who had recent close contact with Mikel are now in self-isolation which is in line with Government health guidelines.
“We expect this to be a specific number of people from Colney, including the full first-team and coaching staff, as well as people from our Hale End Academy which we have also temporarily closed now.
“We expect everyone who did not have close contact with Mikel to return to work in the next few days. In the meantime, our Colney and Hale End training centres will undergo a thorough clean and our other club sites are operating normally.”
Also, The Premier League have confirmed they will hold an emergency meeting today (Friday) and said: “In response to Arsenal’s announcement tonight confirming that their first-team coach Mikel Arteta has tested positive for the CoronaVirus, the Premier League will hold an emergency club meeting tomorrow morning regarding future fixtures.
“The Premier League will only make further comments after that meeting.”
Mikel Arteta told Arsenal’s official website after testing positive for the virus: “This is very disappointing but I took the test after feeling unusual. I will be at work as soon as I’m good again.”
Arsenal’s game with Manchester City on Wednesday night was also cancelled due to fears several members of the squad and the club’s staffs may have contracted COVID-19.
Some part of the Gunners’ squad were in close contact to Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis after they played the club in the Europa League.
Mr Marinakis later confirmed he’s contracted the illness, with Manchester City confirming their match with Arsenal was postponed “as a precautionary measure”.
Club statement: COVID-19
Arsenal are expected to play Sheffield United in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday 22 March but the 14-day self-isolation period means that match is likely to be postponed also.
More to follow…
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