Kieran Tierney likely to miss trip to Man City after Arsenal struggle to get him out of quarantine

Arsenal are facing defeat in their bid to have left back Kieran Tierney available to face Manchester City on Saturday.

Tierney was ordered to quarantine for 14 days after being declared a close contact when Scotland team-mate Stuart Armstrong tested positive for Covid last week.

Tierney has repeatedly tested negative but Arsenal have made little progress in lobbying the Scottish Government to free him.

Midfielder Armstrong, who did not display any symptoms of the virus, was required to isolate for 10 days following his test result and missed Scotland’s three games during the international break. 

Arsenal had been building a case that Tierney shouldn’t have been forced to self-isolate for 14 days, including proof that he was sitting 2.8metres from Armstrong at the time in question 

Tierney was deemed a close contact of Armstrong after the pair, and midfielder Ryan Christie, played computer games in a hotel room while on international duty.

Lothian health board (LHB) officials were called in, after Armstrong’s positive test, to identify who else may have been impacted.

Tierney released a statement confirming he had stuck to all the guidelines and remained socially distant from his team-mates throughout his time in the Scotland camp. 

That was backed up when an LHB official entered the relevant room to assess where he and Armstrong had been sitting and measured that there was almost 3m between the pair, well above the minimum social distancing limit of 2m.

Tierney’s absence will come as a huge blow to the Gunners after becoming an integral player in Arteta’s side.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sead Kolasinac and Bukayo Saka are all options to replace Tierney at left back when Arsenal travel to City on Saturday evening in the Premier League.