The north London derby between Tottenham and Arsenal on Sunday has been postponed – leaving Spurs ‘extremely surprised’ at the decision and seeking clarification on the rules.
The Premier League has accepted Arsenal’s request to call off the match after the Gunners claimed they had “many players currently unavailable across our squad as a result of Covid, injuries and players away with their countries at AFCON”.
In a statement on Saturday, Tottenham said: “We are extremely surprised that this application has been approved.
“We ourselves were disqualified from the European Conference League after a significant number of COVID cases meant we needed to reschedule a fixture and our application to move our Leicester fixture was not approved – only for it to be subsequently postponed when Leicester applied.
“The original intention of the guidance – here – was to deal with player availability directly affected by COVID cases, resulting in depleted squads that when taken together with injuries would result in the club being unable to field a team.
“We do not believe it was the intent to deal with player availability unrelated to COVID. We may now be seeing the unintended consequences of this rule. It is important to have clarity and consistency on the application of the rule.”
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville reacted to the Premier League’s decision by tweeting: “Game off. What started out as postponements due to a pandemic has now become about clubs not having their best team.
“The Premier League must stop this now, draw a line in the sand and say all games go ahead unless you have an exceptional amount of cases. It’s wrong.”
A statement released by the Premier League on Saturday afternoon read: “Following a request from Arsenal, the Premier League board met today and regrettably agreed to postpone the club’s away fixture against Tottenham.
“With Arsenal having fewer than the required number of players available for the match (13 outfield players and one goalkeeper), the board accepted the club’s application.
“The decision is a result of a combination of COVID-19, existing and recent injuries and players on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.”
The Premier League also confirmed that “all clubs are able to apply for a postponement if COVID-19 infections are a factor in their request”, but did not specify if the number of cases was taken into account.
On Friday, Mikel Arteta insisted Arsenal’s “intention is always to play”.
Gunners midfielder Martin Odegaard missed Thursday’s goalless Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg draw at Liverpool due to Covid, while Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu had been ruled out through injury.
Cedric Soares was forced off early at Anfield, with Bukayo Saka also taking a knock, while Granit Xhaka’s first-half red card would have ruled him out of the Tottenham game.
Meanwhile, Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are all away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
It is the third time this season Tottenham have had a Premier League fixture postponed due to Covid, while it is the second match Arsenal have had called off – but the first at their reqeust.
TOTTENHAM STATEMENT
We regret to announce that Sunday’s north London derby against Arsenal has been postponed.
This follows an application from Arsenal to the Premier League on the basis of a combination of COVID, existing and recent injuries and players on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.
We are extremely surprised that this application has been approved.
We ourselves were disqualified from the European Conference League after a significant number of COVID cases meant we needed to reschedule a fixture and our application to move our Leicester fixture was not approved – only for it to be subsequently postponed when Leicester applied.
The original intention of the guidance – here – was to deal with player availability directly affected by COVID cases, resulting in depleted squads that when taken together with injuries would result in the club being unable to field a team.
We do not believe it was the intent to deal with player availability unrelated to COVID.
We may now be seeing the unintended consequences of this rule. It is important to have clarity and consistency on the application of the rule.
Yet again fans have seen their plans disrupted at unacceptably short notice. We shall once again send food deliveries to the local food banks to avoid unacceptable waste. We are sincerely sorry for our fans – some of whom will have travelled great distances.
