ARSENAL have suffered another blow with Ben White ruled OUT of their clash against Chelsea with Covid.
The £50m defender wasn’t in the Gunners squad at the Emirates for Sunday’s showdown.
It comes amid a huge Covid outbreak at the North London club, with at least FOUR first-team squad members being struck down.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette both missed out in their opening day defeat at Brentford.
Willian also tested positive for the virus, amid a disastrous start to the season for Mikel Arteta.
White was expected to start against the Blues today, according to The Athletic.
The England centre-back played the full 90-minutes of their 2-0 loss at the Bees last Friday.
The 23-year-old was set to face off against Romelu Lukaku, who rejoined Chelsea for £100m.
But Arteta is without one of his key players, in what has been a turbulent few weeks for his side.
Arsenal will also be without Thomas Partey and Eddie Nketiah today, who are recovering from injury.
Arteta said this week: “Auba tested positive for COVID-19 and was unavailable for last Friday’s match at Brentford.
“Auba is now negative on COVID-19 testing, is well and following all protocols for return to play.
“He will return to training and be assessed prior to Sunday’s match.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
