Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are doubts again for Arsenal’s fixture against Chelsea, due to the illness keeping them out last week.

Football.London report that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are still both doubts for Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Chelsea this weekend, after illness ruled the duo out of the opening game against Brentford on Friday.

The Mirror also report that Aubameyang and Lacazette look set to be absent again for the fixture.

Folarin Balogun could instead get another chance to start against Arsenal’s London rivals, given Eddie Nketiah is certainly still out for this fixture with his injury.

There’s been some hesitance from the Arsenal fans to believe this report on Aubameyang and Lacazette, as it seems a long time in advance to rule out the players with illness.

But the fact is we don’t know the details. If the illness is preventing the players from training completely, and if it looks like they’ll miss training for at least a few more days, then they’re going to be very much out of practice even if they are technically available for Sunday.

Not to mention that they may have symptoms forcing them to quarantine for a set period, which could also explain why they’re already doubts so far ahead of the game.

With the general negativity around Arsenal, it’s not really surprising that people are instead choosing to believe it’s not just illness though.