Arsenal’s request to cancel their north London derby match against Tottenham was accepted by the Premier League on Saturday due to a lack of available senior players.
“We know how much this match means to our fans around the world,” Arsenal said of the decision to postpone Sunday’s match.
It was reached because Arsenal have less than the required number of players – 13 outfielders and one goalkeeper – because of a combination of COVID-19 cases, injuries and players’ international duty in the African Cup of Nations.
However, Arsenal have recently made the decision to let two players out on loan and have suspended one player at Granit Xaka. In Arsenal’s most recent update, there were not many coronavirus-related absences for the game.
On Friday, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said he would be abusing rival Premier League clubs following coronavirus postponement rules after his club’s request to cancel a match – on 19 December against Wolverhampton – said Despite seven COVID-19 cases were ruled out. in his squad.
Asked whether he thinks some clubs were attempting to push the limits of postponement with tactics such as general injuries and the absence of the Africa Cup of Nations, Tuchel replied: “I strongly, strongly I hope that doesn’t happen, because otherwise I would be very, very angry.”
Arsenal-Tottenham are the 21st Premier League game to be postponed since 12 December, mainly due to isolating players, and causing a backlog of fixtures for the second half of the season.
“What started as a postponement due to the pandemic has now become about clubs not having their best team,” former Manchester United and England defender and now TV pundit Gary Neville said on Twitter. “The Premier League should stop this now, draw a line in the sand and say that all games go ahead unless you have an extraordinary amount of CV matters. That’s wrong.”
Burnley’s lack of players due to coronavirus cases and injuries has prompted the postponement of their match against Leicester this weekend. Burnley have played 17 league games this season, the lowest in the division and five less than leader Manchester City.
Two weekend games in the Women’s Super League have been postponed due to the virus outbreak.
The FA, which runs the WSL, announced on Saturday that Sunday’s game between Arsenal and Reading had been postponed following Reading’s request.
On Friday, the FA postponed the Chelsea-Everton match scheduled for Sunday due to virus cases and injuries at Everton.
France
Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Keylor Navas tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday morning and began isolating, the French league leader said.
PSG said backup Lucas Lovely is replacing Navas in the squad to face Brest on Saturday.
Navas is the latest PSG player to test positive after forward Lionel Messi, winger Angel Di Maria, midfielder Nathan Bitumzala, defenders Levin Kurzawa and Juan Bernat, and backup goalkeepers Sergio Rico and Denis Franchi.
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