The Gunners were due to fly out to the States on Wednesday for the two-game trip, in a tournament called the Florida Cup in Orlando.However, they have been forced to cancel their pre-season tour to America after a Covid outbreak hit their travelling party.Unfortunately, a small number of people in their 80-strong group of players and club staff set to board Wednesday afternoon tested positive resulting in Arsenal having little option other than to withdraw from the planned trip – which is a major blow to their pre-season preparations.It has to be public – details of the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play investigation on Man City will be availableArsenal conducted one round of PCR tests on Monday with further checks taking place on Tuesday, leading to the positive results.Confirmation from the north Londoners is expected imminently.Those who tested positive will now go into self-isolation while the remainder will return to work and be regularly tested as normal.The unaffected players will continue training at London, with Arsenal set to rush and arrange some new fixtures to fill the gap in their warm-up schedule.As a part of the Orlando Cup, Mikel Arteta’s side were due to face Italian champions Inter Milan on Sunday and then either Everton or Colombian side Millionarios in their second game.The travelling party could have still headed to America with those who tested positive left behind following their results -but they then ran the risk of discovering further positive tests in their group which would have resulted in those affected having to remain in quarantine in the US.Arsenal have regrettably been forced to withdraw from the Florida Cup after members of the travelling party tested positive for Covid.#AFTV #AFC pic.twitter.com/UAmp9jbT2F— AFTV (@AFTVMedia) July 21, 2021 The addressed the public with an official statement.’Following a small number of positive COVID tests among the planned party to travel to America tomorrow, we have sadly been forced to withdraw from the Florida Cup.’This difficult decision is based on ensuring the health and wellbeing of our players and staff. We fully understand what a disappointment this is for our supporters in America who were looking forward to seeing us compete in the Florida Cup as part of our pre-season build up. ‘Our apologies also go to the organisers of the Florida Cup who had done a fantastic job making the preparations and our partners who had arranged events around our participation in the competition. ‘We are glad to say the members of staff are not currently displaying any COVID symptoms. They are now in self-isolation at home.’Arsenal start their Premier League campaign against newcomers and city rivals Brentford on August 13.
