Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that his side were struck down with a bout of illness before Saturday's 2-0 Premier League win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Gunners moved five points clear of Manchester City - who lost 2-1 to Brentford earlier in the day - at the top of the table after a second-half brace from captain Martin Odegaard saw off Steve Davis's side at Molineux.
Arteta reverted to his strongest XI after their midweek EFL Cup exit to Brighton & Hove Albion, but he was forced to bring Granit Xhaka off after just 16 minutes.
The Switzerland captain did not appear to be carrying an injury and had instead hunched over, suggesting that he was suffering from some kind of bug as Fabio Vieira replaced him.
Speaking to Sky Sports News after the game, Arteta admitted that Xhaka was not the only one who had been under the weather before the game, with as many as four other players also coming down with the virus.
"He wasn't feeling good, he was sick. He could not carry on. Unfortunately we have another four players with the same symptoms, so I don't know exactly what happened," Arteta said.
"There were a few players not feeling great. Obviously we could not make three or four substitutions during that period. The good thing was that under the context, playing every three days, away from home, we still manage to come here and play well and win the game."
Elaborating on the incident in his post-game press conference, Arteta believes that the Gunners pre-match meal could have been the cause of their illness episode.
"He's fine, he wasn't feeling good and for Granit to put his hand up and say: 'I need to come off'. He wasn't feeling good at all," the 40-year-old added.
"We had a few boys with some tummy issues and obviously we cannot change three or four in the first half, but I'm delighted that we adapted to those circumstances and we managed to win the game.
"Not overnight. I think it was after the pre-match meal but I didn't even know about it. And the doctor was trying to get some place sorted, because they weren't feeling good."
Arsenal were memorably the beneficiaries of another tummy bug-related incident back in the 2005-06 season, as Tottenham Hotspur players went down with a wave of food poisoning before their final-day clash with West Ham United.
Spurs' defeat in that London derby after 'Lasagne-gate' meant that Arsenal pipped their North London rivals to Champions League qualification, and a scarily similar story nearly befell the Lilywhites at the end of last season.
Harry Kane was one of a few players reported to have been feeling sick ahead of their clash with Norwich City, but the England captain recovered to lead the line in a 5-0 Champions League-clinching win.
Arsenal have taken 37 points from their opening 14 games this season, and the imminent World Cup break means that they will be top at Christmas for the first time since the 2007-08 season. body check tags ::
