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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

What happened to Pablo Mari during Arsenal training session before postponed Man City fixture

The Arsenal squad were in good spirits ahead of this tonight's planned Premier League encounter with Manchester City.

However, it has since been revealed that the game has been postponed.

An official statement via Arsenal.com reads: "Our Premier League match with Manchester City on Wednesday night has been postponed.

"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.

"We fully understand how disappointing this is for our supporters, in particular those who were travelling to Manchester for tonight's match. Tickets will be valid for the match when it's rearranged."

Ahead of the planned trip to the Etihad Stadium the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe and Kieran Tierney were put through their paces at the club's training base at London Colney.

And there was an unfortunate moment for one player.

As seen in the images above, Pablo Mari was on the receiving end of some harsh treatment by Granit Xhaka in particular while Gabriel Martinelli, Hector Bellerin and Dani Ceballos were also close by.

It's unclear as to what the Spanish defender did, but it involved his left eye being covered by Xhaka and the situation was something his teammates certainly found hilarious.

The January loan signing does appear to be settling in well at Arsenal and has said that he hopes to earn a permanent contract.

"I've learned a lot because when I was there I was young, now I am little bit older," Mari said. "I learned a lot in all the teams I have played. So I think it is different.

"I don't want to look back, I want to look forward. Now I am in a really good club and I want to continue here for a lot of years.

"I am so happy here. I am going to try and do my best until the end of the season. I hope also the club is happy with me and then we are going to find a good end for everybody."

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