Arsenal hope to begin small group training by Wednesday, with the entire squad and coaching staff due to be tested for coronanvirus within the next 24 hours
The tests will be carried out independently by a test team from Hong Kong-based company Prenetics and are expected to take place on Monday at the club’s London Colney training base
All of the tests have been bought by Arsenal and have not impacted the supply line for NHS or other frontline staff who are fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, which has so far killed more than 33,000 people in the United Kingdom.
It will take between 24 and 48 hours for the test results to come back and should they all be negative, Arsenal plan to begin stepping up their training regime, following the proposed protocols that have been circulated by the Premier League off the back of Government advice which was issued last week.
There will be a Premier League shareholder meeting on Monday to confirm that clubs are comfortable with the new training protocols and that they are ready to put them into action, and should everyone give the protocols the green light, clubs will be able to start ramping up their preparations for the resumption of top flight football in England.
For the past three weeks, London Colney has been open for Arsenal players to use on an individual basis and for fitness purposes only.
Players have using allocated time slots of one hour to go and work through a fitness plan on their own, utilising one of the 10 pitches that are on site.
No buildings have been open, with players arriving in their training gear, walking straight from the car park before starting their workout. Once finished, they return directly to their cars before leaving and showering at home.
However those strict guidelines will ease slightly this week, providing all tests come back negative and the club can push ahead with the first phase of the new training protocols that have been drawn up as part of the Premier League's ‘Project Restart’.
The squad will be split into groups of a maximum of five during the training sessions, which will be staggered throughout the day to avoid large number of players being on site at once. Up to three members of coaching staff will be leading the 75-minute sessions, including head coach Mikel Arteta.
All players and staff are to stay more than two metres apart as much as possible, with contact training not due to begin until phase two of the new training protocols are put into action.
Minimal access to some of the buildings at London Colney will now be allowed - which hasn’t been the case for the past three weeks, but players will only be able to mix in their groups on the training pitches before returning home to shower and change.
Social distancing meausres will remain in place at all times across the training complex.
