Arsenal player tested positive for Covid-19

Mikel Arteta, who tested positive for coronavirus in March, had, however, been given plenty of cause for concern before a ball was kicked in anger.

Those concerned were eventually cleared after in-house and official testing, but three training sessions had to be sat out by the Gunners stars

Arsenal’s preparations for the Premier League restart on June 17 were hampered by one of their players testing positive for Covid-19, with three forced into quarantine.

The Gunners made their return to competitive action after a three-month hiatus away at Manchester City.

Goal can confirm that Arsenal’s efforts to ready themselves for the resumption of top-flight football were disrupted by the enforced absence of three senior stars from training.

In the week building up to a meeting with City, a trio of performers had to sit out three sessions because one tested positive for coronavirus.

The unnamed player was instructed to self-isolate for seven days as a result, while it was also determined that he had been in close enough contact with two team-mates that they had to take similar action.

Arsenal took the appropriate action, but were always of the opinion that a “false positive” had been recorded.

That is because they had formed part of the stringent testing regulations put in place by the Premier League which delivered no positive test results.

Anybody in that position is, as laid out by the government, allowed to stop self-isolating once they are cleared.

Arsenal’s tests had, however, been conducted in-house and could not be approved by those at the Premier League.