Mikel Arteta: Arsenal manager to miss Man City match with Covid-19

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will miss the Premier League match against Manchester City on January 1 after testing positive for COVID-19 for a second time.

At Emirates Stadium, assistants Albert Stuivenberg and Steve Round will take charge. After testing positive, Calum Chambers, Cedric Soares, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles missed the 5-0 win over Norwich on December 26th.

Arteta tested positive in March 2020.

“Mikel is isolating in line with government guidelines and we wish him well,” read an Arsenal statement.

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard and Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira missed matches over the Christmas period following positive tests.

Arsenal, who have won their past four league games, are fourth in the table, 12 points behind leaders City.

Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has been overlooked for the past five games in all competitions after being stripped of the captaincy, will also miss the City match.

He is in Dubai with the Gabon squad preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations.