Tom Smith’s loan from Arsenal to Dover Athletic has been interrupted by Covid recently, with the club only returning to action this weekend.

18-year-old Arsenal goalkeeper Tom Smith went on loan to National League side Dover Athletic in October, but he hasn’t had much of a chance to feature lately.

After four starts in his first four games for the club, Smith dropped to the bench for a match against King’s Lynn Tow. Unfortunately, he then had to wait almost a month for the team to play their next match.

With a Dover Athletic player testing positive for Covid-19, the entire first-team staff and players had to enter a self-isolation period of 14 days. Four matches were postponed to a later date, and the team only returned for an FA Trophy match this weekend.

Dover Athletic travelled to Woking for Saturday’s clash, and Smith made the bench in a 2-1 defeat. He’ll hope to return to the starting lineup when the team face Chesterfield back in the National League on Tuesday.

For anyone interested to watch Smith in action, you may well get a chance on Boxing Day, as BT Sport are televising Dover’s clash with Dagenham & Redbridge. Arsenal are playing Chelsea at the same time, which is all the more reason to distract yourself.