{"id":3106,"date":"2021-12-19T04:26:10","date_gmt":"2021-12-19T09:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2021\/12\/19\/fears-spread-at-arsenal-as-sambi-lokonga-forced-to-sit-out-leeds-clash\/"},"modified":"2021-12-19T04:26:10","modified_gmt":"2021-12-19T09:26:10","slug":"fears-spread-at-arsenal-as-sambi-lokonga-forced-to-sit-out-leeds-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2021\/12\/19\/fears-spread-at-arsenal-as-sambi-lokonga-forced-to-sit-out-leeds-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears spread at Arsenal as Sambi Lokonga forced to sit out Leeds clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet another club \u2013 in the form of Arsenal \u2013 have today confirmed that a key member of the club\u2019s squad has tested positive for Covid-19.<\/p>\n<div class=\"dugout-video dugout-embed-eyJrZXkiOiIiLCJwIjoiZ3JlYXRnb2FscyIsInBsIjoibWF0Y2gifQ==\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.dugout.com\/v3.1\/greatgoals.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Covid chaos<\/h2>\n<p>The alarming spike in Covid cases has of course proven the headline talking point across English football over the course of the week to date.<\/p>\n<p>This comes on the back of confirmed outbreaks at a whole host of clubs, including Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Leicester City and Watford.<\/p>\n<p>The Premier League powers that be, in turn, have been left with little choice but to postpone a rake of fixtures, with the aforementioned Arsenal\u2019s upcoming meeting with Leeds, as things stand, the only clash actually scheduled to go ahead on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1620803\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1620803\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1620803\" src=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1347492557-1024x736.jpg\" alt=\"Fears spread at Arsenal as Sambi Lokonga forced to sit out Leeds clash\" width=\"1024\" height=\"736\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1347492557-1024x736.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1347492557-300x216.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1347492557-768x552.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1347492557-1536x1103.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1347492557-2048x1471.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1347492557-905x650.jpg 905w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1620803\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">LONDON, ENGLAND \u2013 OCTOBER 18: Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace at Emirates Stadium on October 18, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Lokonga concern<\/h2>\n<p>As such, it goes without saying that the last thing the Gunners themselves, or indeed the Premier League at large, would have wanted to hear this evening was of yet another positive Covid test.<\/p>\n<p>But, as alluded to above, that is precisely what has now been confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Taking to social media a short time ago, Arsenal unveiled the club\u2019s matchday squad to face Leeds United, sans the talents of, as expected, now-former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">? Tonight\u2019s team news\u2026<\/p>\n<p>We are unchanged from Wednesday\u2019s win ? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LEEARS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LEEARS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ISSiyT6I8e\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/ISSiyT6I8e<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Arsenal (@Arsenal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Arsenal\/status\/1472242808870342665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 18, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u2018Auba\u2019, however, was not the only notable absentee from the visitors\u2019 matchday setup.<\/p>\n<p>The other? Midfielder Sambi Lokonga.<\/p>\n<p>And, as per a further statement a short time ago, Lokonga\u2019s omission this evening was an enforced one, after the Belgian became the latest high-profile Premier League star to return a positive test for Covid-19:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">? Sambi Lokonga misses today\u2019s game after testing positive for Covid<\/p>\n<p>Get well soon, Sambi ?<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Arsenal (@Arsenal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Arsenal\/status\/1472243814161174528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 18, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Whilst hopes will remain intact that the virus has not already spread further in the Arsenal camp, such a possibility cannot be ruled out.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/news\/three-possible-replacements-for-arsenals-pierre-emerick-aubameyang-after-strikers-exile\/\">Three possible replacements for Arsenal\u2019s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after striker\u2019s exile<\/a><\/h4>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/premier-league-live-streaming\/leeds-united-vs-arsenal-live-streaming-watch-premier-league-online\/\">Leeds United vs Arsenal live streaming: Watch Premier League online<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Yet another club \u2013 in the form of Arsenal \u2013 have today confirmed that a key member of the club\u2019s squad has tested positive for Covid-19. Covid chaos The alarming spike in Covid cases has of course proven the headline talking point across English football over the course of the week to date. This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7],"tags":[13,14],"class_list":["post-3106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-sport","tag-football","tag-soccer","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}