Brighton have confirmed that Saturday’s game with Arsenal remains scheduled to go ahead at the AMEX as planned, in line with government advice, and following consultation with the Premier League and medical advisors.
In the early hours of this morning, it was confirmed that tonight’s match with Manchester City had been postponed and that Mikel Arteta’s squad have been placed in self-isolation.
The decision was taken after Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis, with whom several of the players came into contact at the Emirates on 27 February, had recently contracted coronavirus / Covid-19.
As a result, the players will remain in their homes until the 14-day period expires. All being well, they will return to training on Friday.
A statement from Brighton reads: “The risk is considered extremely low and Saturday’s match remains scheduled to go ahead with the self-isolation period for those players ending tomorrow, as we continue to follow government and medical advice with regard to the coronavirus.”
While not playing City, a game that had been hastily rearranged, means a rest for weary legs, it’s definitely not ideal prep for Saturday. Of course, with the safety of players and staff paramount, it’s the right thing to do.
You get the feeling this could be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to fixture chaos on the domestic front in the UK. Leagues and competitions across Europe are already being played behind closed doors and Serie A has been postponed while Italy remains in lockdown.
What a disaster of a season from a footballing perspective
Pretty pointless to quarantine the team now. Considering they’ve played since the Olympiakos match. Any damage would’ve been done by now
Not quite sure why you got so many dislikes
Olympiakos have released a statement saying all their players have been tested and all came back negative. So that’s encouraging
Ah dammit, the Olympiakos owner infecting some of our players, but none of his own, would be the most Arsenal thing ever
If arsenal can survive Ashley Cole and his peculiar mobile phone habits I then I think our immunity will be our fortress,
I’m amazed the games are still being played. Lets hope the govt know what they’re doing..
What’s that?
Oh.
It looks like policy at the moment is to cross our fingers and hope it doesn’t go full Italian. Might work, if we’re lucky.
I predict games behind closed doors. Probably within 2 weeks. Can’t see the scousers being quiet if they cancel the league this year. We’d never the end of that one.
Attendances will be well down this weekend anyway due to this virus.
Just hope the players and staff at the Arsenal are all ok.
If the league does get cancelled, it would be interesting to see how the participants for the next CL season be determined. Based on standings at that point in time?
Yes, interesting point. Would seem to be fairest way. What about relegation? The teams currently in bottom 3?
Alphabetical?
I think there will be no answer that will be satisfactory for every club. It’s gonna be a right mess. Which is why I predict games behind closed doors. Mind you, quite a few clubs need the gate money simply to survive. Not all games are sell outs due to season tickets. Perhaps Liverpool, who are obviously keen not to have the season cancelled, could pay clubs some of the money they’d miss due to lost gate receipts? They could then finally make up for making other clubs miss out on European competition in the 80s? Our ‘up for grabs… Read more »
Co-efficient maybe
And those Liverpoo fans would be crying in their beer and throwing themselves into the Mersey. There’s a silver lining for you!
Ozil would be the one I would worry about as his tolerance to illness seems pretty light at the best of times.
Not quite as bad as Daniel Sturridge though.
I recall a great spoof article that said he was out for the rest of the season with ‘brain freeze’ after eating a choc ice quickly.
A professional hospital patient who’s career has been blighted by football
Yes, I’m frustrated too. I was about to bash Özil with lots of KDB comparisons this evening but for today the virus will do it. I can’t wait for saturday though.
Here we go with the Özil bashing again.. Sigh..
‘The risk is considered extremely low’……..idiocy right there
So if our players have had to isolate, what does that mean for teams we have played since the Olympiakos game?
Is it cause no one has shown symptoms yet its fine, or for safety sake should those teams also need to self isolate as well…. like if it gets announce tomorrow that an Arsenal player or staff has got Covid it could really turn into a s**t show, tip of the ice berg indeed
If any of our players would still show signs of the virus today, I suppose that West Ham and Pompey would be quarantined. If our players don’t show any symptoms until tomorrow – 2 weeks after meeting the Greek guy – I suppose they are declared not infected from the meeting with him, so as a consequence they couldn’t have infected anyone they’ve met since being in contact with him. At least that is how I understand it. What I find curious is, that the Olympiakos game tomorrow seems to be not postponed yet. So the president was in touch… Read more »
How did we get into this ridiculous state? So we can’t play City tonight but can play Brighton at the weekend? Where’s the consistency? The sad fact is that this terrible virus is already out there and so we’ll just have to work our way through it. Every day, about two million Londoners get into packed Tube trains; another million use buses and taxis. Crowded airports and bus terminals are also breeding grounds for the virus. And most of us have to go to work, often in crowded workplaces. Sadly, this virus appears to be extremely contagious; cancelling football matches… Read more »
The issue with not with the 99%. It’s about that 1% that they might infect, including grandparents, young kids, people with suppressed immunity etc. Always better to be safe than sorry.
Wish people would stop talking about young kids. 0 recorded deaths of 0-10 world wide.
That’s not the point in my view. I’m not particularly concerned about catching it myself, or even my wife catching it, but I do worry about my young son catching it, because I feel a different standard of care when it comes to him.
Strong illness in infancy can have huge long term consequences.
Another risk is of the healthcare system being overwhelmed by a spike in hospitalised covid19 cases resulting in people with other health conditions not receiving the care the need e.g. insufficient hospital beds or specialised facilities like intensive care. Slowing down the infection rate helps mitigate this.
I think the alleged logic is that the players arestill within the mystical 14 day window tonight but it will pass by Saturday.
Yes, I know.
I tell you what. Getting the underground is horrendous at the best of times, but going into Liverpool Street or Moorgate the last few weeks now feels like I’m putting my health into hundreds of peoples hands
‘I would strongly advise vulnerable people to stay away from large crowds and areas that leave them susceptible to being infected, but normal, healthy people should just go about their business.’ With all due respect – I would strongly advise you take heed of advice issued by informed health authorities who are acting on evidence based scientific knowledge, rather than spew such nonsense. Normal healthy people going about their business without self quarantining themselves (if they’re supposed to), or washing their hands, or taking other appropriate precautions, risk spreading this virus. Do you know hospitals in Northern Italy (which are… Read more »
Thank you! Anyone acting as host to a virus can and will infect others, even if they never get symptoms themselves. And even before that, there’s an incubation period of up to 14 days (hence the quarantine) – though median numbers suggest most infected experience symptoms after around 5 days. In Denmark, authorities are trying to minimize contact (for example by adding more busses, trains etc. to reduce the number of people in the same vehicles) – simply for the reason that if just 10-20% of those *expected* to need medical care end up needing it at the same time,… Read more »
From a footballing perspective (this is a football website after all) I’m fairly content that the Man City game has been postponed. Let’s get 6 points on the board from Brighton and Norwich and then see where we are heading into the Wolves game.
That’s if any of us are still alive by Easter Monday.
Wait what? So this isn’t a WebMD chat group? ?
lol
Ah common sense. Marvelous. I really love Arseblog but I have noticed there seems to a concerning trend in the past few months of trying to shape people’s opinion on things (football and non football matters – subconsciously or consciously). Yes, the content may be free but with many followers comes responsibility. From banging the Mustafi drum until he gets abused to calling people who laugh off coronavirus eeijits. I once had a deadly illness (far worse than CV) that nearly killed me, and every day I would laugh it off and pretend everything was normal. Was I scared? Sure.… Read more »
Was it CJD?
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), also known as classic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, is a fatal degenerative brain disorder.[4][1] Early symptoms include memory problems, behavioral changes, poor coordination, and visual disturbances.[4] Later symptoms include dementia, involuntary movements, blindness, weakness, and coma.[4] About 70% of people die within a year of diagnosis
The difference is that you recognized the threat to your own health and used your own lightheartedness as a coping mechanism. Nothing wrong with that at all, and I’m glad to hear you recovered.
When people in general laugh this off or act like it’s not a big deal, they are discouraging others from recognizing that threat and taking preventive measures that can reduce the spread of the virus.
Good point Scott,some of us in 3rd world countries are really worried.
Blogs answer would be “don’t read it” which seems fair.
I don’t understand this at all.
All I’ve done re: coronavirus is give people information. I haven’t laughed at anyone, even people who refuse to accept the facts as laid out by scientists and medical community.
I’m glad you survived your illness, and I hope you stay well.
That doesn’t mean other people shouldn’t take things seriously.
I once was in an NHS chat group and a
footballing discussion broke out…
So we have 1 day to prepare. Great…
I don’t think we have lost any preparation time for the Brighton game. Today would have been traveling to Manchester and playing the Man City game, and tomorrow would have been a rest day / warm-down day. Friday will be business as usual on the training pitch.
Isolating our players means that they would have been unable to practice as per usual. I wonder whether this will impact their preparation?
Brighton won’t know how to handle their random game. On the Virus issue, I see you guys talk about it like it’s not that serious and the 1% and the elderly being the only ones at risk. I think it has to be taken seriously as health officials point out. Those of us in the “third world ” it won’t be just a 1%( which is still a painful loss wherever) Poor healthcare systems in countries like ours mean getting treatment will be impossible. No ventilators, enough medical personnel and a city like ours can’t withstand a lockdown of two… Read more »
Need to take all 3 points. We are in the results business. Until we start to claw close to fifth, all improvements Arteta is making to Arsenal are existential. We need to be in that fifth spot. Points seem close but there are also a lot of teams hungry in front of us who remain competitive and we have yet to find form. BUT we have 10 matches left so it is possible and we need to be gunning for it. Otherwise this summer will be even more complicated. If you think we are going to sell all your favorite… Read more »
Will be interesting to see players with masks on…
Aubameyang can supply the black panther masks.
Citeh postponement may be a blessing – one of our toughest remaining games… squeezed into a midweek… with another on the Saturday…
If any match was likely to break the fledgling winning (or not losing, if we add in the draws) habit we’re developing, it was City away.
Now we hopefully get a few more wins to entrench confidence, put a little more pressure on those above – before we have to face City. Who knows, it may even not be a must win game by that stage! Chance would be…