Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has disclosed that he didn’t feature Willian and David Luiz in the Gunners’ squad that defeated Chelsea 3-1 in the Premier League on Boxing Day because the Brazilians were having some symptoms of COVID-19 infections.

Willian and Luiz, both former Chelsea players, were absent in Arsenal’s match-day squad against Frank Lampard’s side as three goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka gave Arteta’s men all three points at Emirates Stadium.

Tammy Abraham did score a late second-half consolation goal for Chelsea.

The win over Chelsea, means Arsenal are now in the 14th position on the Premier League table with 17 points from 15 matches.

Speaking on the absences of both Willian and Luiz, Arteta was quoted by Arsenal’s official website as saying after the match: “They were having some symptoms, and we have to be really cautious when that happens.

“The protocols say that they have to stay away, they have to test negative, but still we have to be really careful we don’t pass that into the players until we are 100 percent sure they don’t have it.”

Willian and Luiz will both hope to recover on time to feature for Arsenal in their next Premier League tie against Brighton on Tuesday.

DailyPost