James McNicholas of The Athletic has been discussing the latest situation regarding Arsenal star Kieran Tierney during a recent edition of the Arsecast Extra.
The Scotland international was required to go into self-isolation for 14 days from October 8 after he was in close contact with Southampton’s Stuart Armstrong who returned a positive test for the virus (via Arsenal.com). However, as confirmed by the player himself, the 23-year-old’s test was negative and as such, Arsenal have been in contact with the Scottish authorities about getting the defender back down to London.
As a result of all of the above, Tierney’s availability ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Manchester City is now in doubt but McNicholas seems to think the Premier League club may yet find a way around the protocols in order to use the player this coming weekend, here is what he had to say:
“There is a difference, isn’t there, in the interpretation of how long you need to isolate between the SFA and the Premier League. I think – and it’s only a hunch – that Arsenal will manage to get around it, just because if the Premier League rules say he only has to isolate for a week, then I guess they are the rules, whatever the SFA say.”
Andrew Mangan, the host of the podcast, then asked McNicholas to clarify whether he thinks the former Celtic man will be available this weekend and he replied with:
“I think so, but like I say, that is a pure hunch and just me looking at the situation and saying what I think.”
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TIF Thoughts on James McNicholas’ Kieran Tierney’s situation…
It remains to be seen whether or not Arsenal will ‘manage to get around’ the situation regarding Tierney and his isolation period. The player’s average performance rating in the Premier League so far this season has been a solid 6.76/10 (as per WhoScored) and so if he were ruled out of the fixture, you could argue it would come as a blow to Mikel Arteta’s men.