11 Mar Premier League clash postponed after club owner contracts coronavirus

The first Premier League match has been postponed because of coronavirus.

Thursday morning’s clash between Manchester City and Arsenal won’t go ahead after Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis tested positive to COVID-19.

Marinakis was at the Emirates Stadium watching the Greek club's victory in their Round of 32 Europa League match on February 27 and came into contact with Gunners staff members and players.

Arsenal released the following statement on the matter:

“Following yesterday’s news that Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis has recently contracted Covid-19, we have been taking medical advice and tracing any individuals who had what the guidelines define as close contact with him at the game 13 days ago."

“As a result of this exercise we identified that a number of players met the Olympiacos owner immediately following the game.

“The medical advice we have received puts the risk of them developing Covid-19 at extremely low. However, we are strictly following the Government guidelines which recommend that anyone coming into close contact with someone with the virus should self-isolate at home for 14 days from the last time they had contact.

“As a result, the players are unavailable for tonight's match against Manchester City and the Premier League has decided the game should be postponed.

“The players will remain at their homes until the 14-day period expires. Four Arsenal staff, who were sitting close to Mr Marinakis during the match will also remain at home until the 14 days are complete.

“As a further precautionary measure, whilst we do not believe there was any close contact with any other Arsenal guests or staff in the directors box restaurant, we are contacting them to advise they should follow the relevant advice if there has been any such contact.

“Everyone at Arsenal Football Club wishes Mr Marinakis a swift recovery and we look forward to the players and staff returning to work on Friday in preparation for our match at Brighton.”

Coronavirus is wreaking havoc in Europe with all Serie A games suspended until April 3.

La Liga, Ligue 1 and Champions League matches will be played behind closed doors to stop the spread of the disease.