Emile Smith Rowe returned from his illness to take part in training on Tuesday, ahead of Arsenal’s match against Watford, but misses out as he now has Covid.

Arsenal youngster Emile Smith Rowe returned to training with the first team on Tuesday, following his absence from the last matchday squad through an illness that was said to be both Covid and not Covid.

It was a surprise, then, to see him omitted from the Arsenal squad for their game against Watford.

It seems he has now actually has caught Covid.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1500458007141961733

Following his goal in his last appearance against Brentford, Smith Rowe mysteriously disappeared from training photos.

Arsenal later confirmed he was out with a sickness.

The day after the game against Wolves, Connor Humm said that Smith Rowe had tested positive for Covid, despite the initial belief that his illness was something else.

There are technically no isolation restrictions on people in the United Kingdom with Covid positives, so Smith Rowe was free to return whenever Arsenal saw fit.

But you’d imagine the club would want to avoid widespread illness in the squad, so the fact he returned to training suggests he was testing negative at that point.

Despite somewhat of a stop-start campaign with injuries and illnesses, Smith Rowe remains Arsenal’s top scorer this season. He played a good game against Brentford, and it was a shame he had to miss out on the next match against Wolves.

It would be good to see Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli pushing each other for starts by showing their best form in the final months of the season.

They’ll need to if Arsenal are going to keep trying for a top-four finish.