Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to miss Manchester City game after positive Covid test

Spaniard contracts virus for second time while Newcastle's match with Everton on Thursday becomes lastest game to postponed

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is isloating after testing positive for Covid-19 for a second time. EPA

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will be absent for his side’s New Year’s Day clash with Manchester City after testing positive for coronavirus.

The Spaniard is now isolating and will be unable to attend the match at the Emirates Stadium.

A club statement read: “Mikel Arteta will miss our match against Manchester City on New Year’s Day after testing positive for Covid-19. Mikel is isolating in line with Government guidelines and we wish him well.”

Arteta is still expected to do press duties before the game. He previously contracted the virus in March 2020, which prompted the shutdown of English football at the start of the pandemic.

Assistants Albert Stuivenberg and Steve Round will be in charge on match day.

The Gunners were without a number of players during their 5-0 win at Norwich on Boxing Day due to coronavirus, with Calum Chambers, Cedric Soares, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles among those infected.

Their game with Wolves on Tuesday was postponed due to an outbreak in Bruno Lage’s squad.

Meanwhile, Newcastle United's home game with Everton on Thursday has been called off because of coronavirus cases and injuries in the Magpies' camp.

Newcastle made the request after “a number of players and staff” tested positive, on top of injuries to “several players”. Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin were both injured during Newcastle's draw with Manchester United on Monday.

After the game at St James' Park, manager Eddie Howe admitted his side “dangerously close” to not being able to field a team due to a “mixture of injuries and Covid-19 cases".

It means 16 English top-flight games have now been postponed in December.