Coronavirus Update: Premier League Season On Brink Of Being Scrapped After Arsenal Coach, Chelsea Player Test Positive

Premier League's current season could soon be suspended for a few weeks or scrapped entirely after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea’s first-team player Callum Hudson-Odoi have tested positive for Coronavirus.

Earlier, Premier League had announced that the weekend’s top-flight games would go ahead as planned but now the body has called an emergency meeting with its clubs Friday in regards to the future fixtures of the ongoing 2019-20 season.

A few reports have said since a top-flight club’s head coach has tested positive, it could surely lead to the scrapping of the whole season and not just suspension of the league for a few weeks.

“Our London Colney training centre has been closed after head coach Mikel Arteta received a positive COVID-19 result this evening. Arsenal personnel who had recent close contact with Mikel will now self-isolate in line with Government health guidelines. We expect this to be a significant number of people from Colney, including the full first-team squad and coaching staff, as well as a smaller number of people from our Hale End Academy which we have also temporarily closed as a precaution."

"We expect those who did not have close contact with Mikel to return to work in the coming days. In the meantime, our Colney and Hale End training centres will undergo a deep clean and our other club sites are operating as normal,” Arsenal said in an official statement.

Even Chelsea released a statement in regards to Hudson-Odoi’s case. “Chelsea men’s team player Callum Hudson-Odoi had a positive test result for Coronavirus returned this evening. Chelsea personnel who had recent close contact with the player in the men’s team building will now self-isolate in line with Government health guidelines. These will include initially the full men’s team squad, coaching staff and a number of backroom staff,” the former champions wrote in their official statement.

The statement further revealed that Hudson-Odoi displayed symptoms similar to a mild cold Monday morning and has not been at the training ground since then as a precaution. However, his test came in positive later on and he will undergo a period of self-isolation. The club has assured that despite testing positive for the virus, the 19-year-old forward is doing well and looking forward to returning to the training ground as soon as it is possible.

It was also reported Thursday that the Manchester City defender, Benjamin Mendy, is undergoing a self-isolation after a member of his family fell ill and three Leicester players have also undergone tests for coronavirus after experiencing symptoms.