The Arsenal womens team have been on a winter break and were supposed to resume the League fixtures this weekend, but the Gunners have has to ask the League to postpone the Aston Villa game after three of their senior players took a trip to Dubai over the Christmas period, despite London being in Tier 4 lockdown with foreign travel banned.
One of Arsenal womens players has now tested positive for coronavirus on her return, and other members that have been in contact with her have been forced to isolate themselves and are also unavailable to play. It has been reported in the Telegraph that their Arsenal Womens team-mates are “furious”…..
It seems that the trio did not get permission from Arsenal before going to the UAE, but they have escaped punish ment from the club as it has been agreed that they were ostensibly on a business trip, which is allowed under the restrictions. The Republic of Ireland winger Katie McCabe told the club that she was in Dubai for a meeting with her agent, although she was not the one with the virus, whose name has not been revealed.
The Arsenal legend Ian Wright thinks that Arsenal asking for a postponement is unfair on Aston Villa. He tweeted….
The official announcement on Arsenal.com said: “Although initially all of our first-team players tested negative on return from the Christmas break, one player has subsequently tested positive for Covid-19 this week.
As a result, several first team players are now observing a period of self-isolation as a precaution in accordance with FA and UK Government protocol.”
That in itself is a big worry, if someone can contract the virus, but be negative on tests until a few days later….
Man City’s WSL game has also been postponed after 4 of their players were also in Dubai, and in fact 4 of their players have tested positive as well, but crucially they had sought permission before going, and Manchester was only in Tier 3 at the time, when foreign travel was still allowed…