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Tottenham 'extremely surprised' at postponement of Arsenal game

The league accepted the Gunners application for a postponement due to players being unavailable due to Covid, injuries and other reasons. 
Cathal Mullaney
Cathal Mullaney

17.21 15 Jan 2022


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Tottenham 'extremely surprised...

Tottenham 'extremely surprised' at postponement of Arsenal game

Cathal Mullaney
Cathal Mullaney

17.21 15 Jan 2022


Share this article


Tottenham have questioned the postponement of their Premier League clash with Arsenal. 

The north London derby - scheduled for tomorrow - has been called off after a request from Arsenal. 

The league accepted the Gunners application for a postponement due to players being unavailable due to Covid, injuries and other reasons.

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This, they say, meant they were unable to field a team.

Spurs released a statement this evening, registering their surprise at the decision.

They say they don't believe the postponement is in keeping with the Premier League guidelines related to Covid.

The game will now be rescheduled.

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."


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