Ahead of Arsenal’s fixture on New Year’s Day against Manchester City, the Gunners are still within touching distance of Liverpool and Chelsea in second and third place respectively.
Given that the Reds and the Blues play each other the following day, one or both could drop points, meaning that the North Londoners could find themselves just two points off of the top three if they were to continue their own good form and put Pep Guardiola’s swashbucklers to the sword.
However, they’ve been hit with a hammer blow just a few days before the match is scheduled to go ahead.
Back in March 2020, Mikel Arteta’s positive Covid-19 test was the one which finally, and some might say belatedly, saw the Premier League stop all football until further notice.
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As it turned out the Spaniard recovered well, but unfortunately the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has seen Arteta return another positive test.
According to the official Arsenal website, the manager is now in isolation and has received the club’s well wishes.
What that does mean of course is that he’ll be unable to direct operations from the dugout during Saturday’s encounter, and that may tip the balance even further in City’s direction.
It also stops the possibility of Arteta pitting his wits against his former colleague, Pep Guardiola, again.
The Catalan will be looking for his side to continue their epic winning run that will see them move 12 points clear of the rest if they’re able to emerge unscathed in both the Arsenal and Brentford games.