Manchester City v Arsenal postponed over coronavirus fears

Manchester City’s Premier League match with Arsenal on Wednesday has been postponed as a “precautionary measure” and several Gunners players are in self-isolation after Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis contracted coronavirus.

Arsenal say Marinakis, 52, met a number of their players when the Gunners hosted the Greek side in a Europa League match two weeks ago.

Marinakis – who also owns Championship side Nottingham Forest – said on Tuesday he had tested positive for Covid-19.

Olympiakos will host Wolves in the Europa League on Thursday after Uefa rejected Wolves’ request for the last-16 first-leg match to be postponed.



The Premier League says it has no plans to postpone any other matches and “all necessary measures are being taken”.

Brighton say their home game against Arsenal on Saturday (15:00 GMT) “remains scheduled to go ahead as planned”.

“The risk is considered extremely low with the self-isolation period for those players ending on Thursday,” the Seagulls said.

Figures accurate at 06:00 GMT show 382 cases of the virus in the UK, with six deaths.

The disease, which can cause a fever, cough and breathing problems, is spreading around the world and has already affected more than 116,000 people.




It has impacted on the staging of sport events around the world, with Italy’s Serie A suspended and French and Spanish top-flight games being played behind closed doors.

European matches involving Manchester United, Rangers and Chelsea will be held behind closed doors in Austria and Germany in the coming days, but this is the first match in the UK to be affected.

The postponement means Premier League leaders Liverpool can no longer win their first title since 1990 this weekend.

Liverpool would have been crowned champions if City had lost to Arsenal at Etihad Stadium and then also been beaten by Burnley on Saturday.

Source: BBC