Dec 21 (Reuters) - Arsenal defenders Pablo Mari, Calum Chambers and midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga were ruled out for Tuesday"s League Cup quarter-final at home to Sunderland after testing positive for COVID-19, the Premier League club said before kickoff. Midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles was absent due to illness not related to COVID-19, the club added. The Premier League said on Monday that a record 90 new cases of COVID-19 were detected among players and staff in the past week, as clubs decided to press ahead with the busy festive fixture list despite the escalating crisis.