Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted preparations for his side’s win over Brentford were derailed by a bug which swept through his squad.The Gunners came from a goal down to complete a 3-1 victory at the Gtech Community Stadium to move back up to second and six points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool to keep their title dream alive.But Arteta revealed several of his players were struck down by a virus on the eve of the game.Kai Havertz was sent home with the bug, while Declan Rice was a surprise starter on the bench.Captain Martin Odegaard was rumoured to be struggling in the hours ahead of kick-off. However, he was able to start the fixture before he was replaced in the second period.“It affected players on the pitch and off the pitch,” said Arteta when quizzed about the bug.“It is nothing serious. But it wasn’t the ideal situation. In relation to the symptoms, with Kai it was obvious. He wasn’t feeling well at all. He had very clear symptoms so stay away from it, put him in a car, and go back to London.
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00:00So it's all over here at the GTEC Community Stadium and a win for Arsenal to start 2025.
00:07A big result for them, I think, given they went behind in this match to Brian and Bueno's goal.
00:13No Bakai Saka, obviously that's been the case for a while. No Kouhaverts due to illness.
00:18We don't know how much more that illness will spread around the camp, but when they went behind like that,
00:23I think you could have easily envisaged a world where Arsenal could have folded here.
00:27It came back well. I thought Ethan Muaneri did really well on his first Premier League start.
00:32I think Arteta has spoken about having four or five options on that right flank,
00:36but I think Muaneri does give them quite a lot of balance.
00:38I think that left footer obviously is the most similar they've got to Sakon, that mould.
00:42I think he did his chances of starting at Brighton no harm at all.
00:46And certainly Jesus and Martinelli as well.
00:48Those two players who had really difficult seasons, but the confidence back in the goals.
00:53And for Arsenal this was the perfect start to 2025.
00:56Arteta has spoken about how they've got to keep the hammer on and put pressure on Liverpool,
01:00and they certainly did that tonight.