My Arsenal Blog

On the evening on March 12th, Arsenal confirmed that manager Mikel Arteta had received a positive COVID-19 result.

The Gunners played a two-leg tie against Olympiacos in the Europa League round of 32 earlier, and despite a 0-1 win in Greece, they were knocked out after losing the second leg at the Emirates. The Coronavirus outbreak was at its early stages at the time, but it was soon reported that Olympiacos owner, Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Nottingham Forest, had tested positive to the disease. Naturally, it meant that the whole Arsenal squad were potentially exposed, but it was Arteta who caught the virus first.  .......Read more here.....

According to the Evening Standard, Arsenal are confident that they will be able to extend the loan deal for Dani Ceballos past the date agreed for its expiration – June 30th.

The game has been completely suspended across Europe and at the moment, it’s hard to foresee when or how the 2019/20 season will end. In England, the suspension is currently set to last until the end of April at the earliest, and the Premier League clubs are scheduled to hold a meeting early next month to discuss the possibility of a ‘best-case scenario’ – the season being continued sometime in the middle of May. If that proves doable, the goal will be to finish the campaign before the end of June, but there is still a strong possibility of league games being played well into the summer.  .......Read more here.....

“The health of fans, staff and players has to be our number one priority and, in that spirit, UEFA tabled a range of options so that competitions can finish this season safely and I am proud of the response of my colleagues across European football. There was a real spirit of cooperation, with everyone recognising that they had to sacrifice something in order to achieve the best result.  .......Read more here.....

In what could serve as a slice of good news for domestic football fans who are hoping to see their leagues finish over the course of the summer, it has been officially confirmed by UEFA that Euro 2020 is going to be postponed until summer 2021 – with the hope being that the leagues can, in fact, finish. The following statement was issued by UEFA and their president Aleksander Čeferin.  .......Read more here.....

Together with the FA, EFL and WSL, the Premier League has made the decision to postpone all matches until April 4, pending medical advice and other conditions which may arise by that time.

The full statement reads:

“Following a meeting of Shareholders today, it was unanimously decided to suspend the Premier League with the intention of returning on 4 April, subject to medical advice and conditions at the time.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: “Above all, we wish Mikel Arteta and Callum Hudson-Odoi speedy recoveries, and everyone else affected by COVID-19.  .......Read more here.....

Following the news that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has tested positive for COVID-19, the Premier League is holding an emergency meeting this morning in order to discuss what is going to happen to the remainder of the fixtures this season.

Chelsea star Callum Hudson-Odoi has also tested positive for the coronavirus, and as we look ahead to the immediate future, it seems as if this ripple effect is going to continue. The logical next step seems to be suspending the league for at least a few weeks, if not a month, before analysing what to do from that point on.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal Football Club has released a statement after it was confirmed that head coach Mikel Arteta has tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Our London Colney training centre has been closed after head coach Mikel Arteta received a positive COVID-19 result this evening.

Arsenal personnel who had recent close contact with Mikel will now self-isolate in line with Government health guidelines. We expect this to be a significant number of people from Colney, including the full first-team squad and coaching staff, as well as a smaller number of people from our Hale End Academy which we have also temporarily closed as a precaution.  .......Read more here.....

In an interview with the club’s official website, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang insists he is happy at Arsenal.

The 30-year-old’s future was a subject of much speculation recently. Reports kept (and still keep) popping up about him being unhappy at the moment, and about him wanting Champions League football and trophies. He has been linked with Real Madrid, but even more so with Barcelona and Inter Milan.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal’s game against Manchester City tonight has been postponed due to several players and staff members coming into contact with the Olympiacos owner, who is known to have contracted the coronavirus.

The big concern for many is that Arsenal could now be forced to have a number of other games called off due to the fact that they have to quarantine for 14 days. They have a game against Burnley coming up at the weekend, and while this may all be redundant if the virus continues to spread as it has been doing, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that being called off, too.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal Football Club has announced that their game against Manchester City, previously scheduled for tonight, has officially been postponed. The following statement has been released to the public.

“Our Premier League match with Manchester City on Wednesday night has been postponed.

Following yesterday’s news that Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis has recently contracted Covid-19, we have been taking medical advice and tracing any individuals who had what the guidelines define as close contact with him at the game 13 days ago.

As a result of this exercise we identified that a number of players met the Olympiacos owner immediately following the game.  .......Read more here.....