Arsenal have requested that Sunday’s North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur be postponed.
Mikel Arteta’s side have been ravaged by Covid-19 absentees in recent weeks and the virus continues to plague the club with the absentees through suspension, injury and International duties exacerbating the issue.
On their official website the Premier League confirmed they had received a postponement request from Arsenal, and would relay their final decision on whether the game is postponed tomorrow.
According to the Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel, Arsenal’s request has left Tottenham angry because of how late the request has come in, with the match scheduled to kick off less than 48 hours from now.
If the game was to go ahead, Arsenal would be set to go into the game with just one fit natural centre midfielder, with Granit Xhaka’s red card leaving Albert Sambi Lokonga as the only player at the club who is available who plays there normally.
Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny are both on International duty, while Martin Odegaard tested positive for Covid-19 before the game against Liverpool on Thursday.
Other players including, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Cedric Soares and Emile Smith Rowe have all struggled with injuries as well, leaving them with a total of 12 outfield players, one less than the 13 required to play a game after the Premier League’s Covid postponement ruling.
The final decision will be made tomorrow and fans of both teams as well as the players and coaching staff will be eagerly awaiting the outcome to know whether the fixture will go ahead.
What a joke. They should be fined by the Premier league for making such a ridiculous request when they have one covid case it’s clearly a way to gain an advantage when they have so many players at afcon and out injured, which is no justification for a postponement. Spurs should take the PL to court if they allow it.
Perhaps Brighton should have done the same when Spurs cried off.
I bet if the game is played arsenal will manage to field 11 players and have 7 on the bench. Ridiculous situation that the Premier League should throw out immediately.
Granit Xhaka’s red card… Whose false is that?