Arsenal not to blame for ridiculous Tottenham postponement

Arsenal have seen their request to postpone the North London Derby against Tottenham on Sunday granted. What a joke this whole situation has become.

Armed with a skeleton squad, Mikel Arteta took his team to Liverpool and Arsenal somehow emerged with a hugely commendable 0-0 draw. With player absences nearing double figures beforehand, matters on the pitch got worse.

Granit Xhaka’s red card limited reduced the Gunners’ options further, while an injury to Cedric and further knocks for Calum Chambers, Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka had Arteta down to the bare bones in regards to options.

Those, coupled with other injuries, two players being sent out on loan this month, four players being involved at AFCON, and a solitary Covid case, left them with fewer than the required number of players available for the match (13 outfield players and one goalkeeper).

Arsenal not to blame for ridiculous Tottenham postponement with North London Derby clash cancelled after an appeal from Arteta’s side

On those grounds, they appealed to have the match postponed. Why? Because the rules allow them to.

But do not be mistaken: it is a shambles that Arsenal are able to appeal for a match to be called off when they have just the solitary Covid case. A complete and utter mess.

It’s rightly been brought up that were the club to have not sent Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Folarin Balogun out on loan that they then would have been able to fulfill the requirements to play. To be in a position where they can exploit the rules on player availability for a law that was introduced to help with the Covid situation when they have just the solitary case is farcical.

Arsenal should be playing this match. But so should have everyone else who has seen matches postponed.

Unless there is a genuine threat of a dangerous spread of the virus, then every game should have gone ahead. Use the squad, play the Under-23’s. It doesn’t matter; all clubs have enough players.

The Premier League have dug themselves into this hole when they introduced this system and there is no way out for them now. Including AFCON and injuries in the matter was a mistake from the get-go. And then when Liverpool literally faked Covid tests to swindle their way out of facing Arsenal it became apparent how much of a mess the process was.

Now, facing their own selection crisis, one partly of their own doing, Arsenal have exploited a broken system to move their match against Tottenham to a later date. Arsenal are following the rules and are not to blame, regardless of how ridiculous the idea is that they can be successful in their appeal when they have only one player absent with Covid.

It can’t even be changed now. Leicester, for example, have had five matches postponed. The integrity of the competition is at risk if the system is rejigged.

Funny, though, that there was no outrage for any of the other 19 postponements. Suddenly Arsenal get involved with their first appeal and the football world goes made.

It’s clear that Arsenal are, indeed, back.