Arsenal have submitted a postponement to the Premier League so they don’t have to play Tottenham Hotspur this weekend. The neighbors were apparently not happy with the move.
Arsenal are known to have submitted a postponement of the match due to a player crisis. In an official statement, the Gunners cited COVID-19, injuries and absences due to the Africa Cup of Nations as reasons for Mikel Arteta’s squad to lack players.
Rumors circulated that Arsenal only had 12 non-keeper players, although this was not confirmed by the club. With the depletion of the available fleet, Arsenal felt complied with the requirements to postpone the match.
This, according to Sky Sports, makes Tottenham angry. They believe that there is currently no COVID-19 storm in the Arsenal squad, which makes the match have to be postponed. The submission is believed to be just an attempt to find a loophole so that you don’t have to compete with a mediocre squad.
According to data released by premierinjuries, currently only Martin Odegaard and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are known to have contracted the virus.
But Aubameyang is currently away on country duty with Gabon at the Africa Cup of Nations, and he has been sidelined by Arteta for the past month. Therefore, only Odegaard is considered unavailable due to COVID-19.
In addition, it is believed that Tottenham’s anger is also caused by too many postponed matches that they have to undergo. Previously, there had been three matches that had been shifted due to the COVID-19 storm in the squad and disrupted by bad weather.
This is certainly not good for the team’s fitness because they have to complete a number of matches with a tight schedule, which can later have an impact on results on the field.
Tottenham vs Arsenal will be announced today, Saturday (15/1/2022). The match itself is scheduled to be held next Sunday.
There is a high chance that this match will be moved, considering that Leicester City also had proposed to postpone the match against Everton earlier this week for the same reason as Arsenal, and the Premier League’s attempt was granted. The Gunners certainly hope for a similar result.
Arsenal are currently fifth in the Premier League standings with 35 points from 20 matches, while Tottenham are sixth with 33 points from 18 matches.
List of absent Arsenal players (according to premierinjuries data):
– Martin Odegaard (COVID-19)
– Granite Xhaka (red card penalty)
–Takehiro Tomiyasu (cedera)
– Emile Smith Rowe (cedera)
– Bukayo Saka (injured)
– Calum Chambers (injured)
– Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (COVID-19, African Cup of Nations)
– Thomas Partey (African Cup)
– Mohamed Elneny (African Cup)
– Nicolas Pepe (African Cup)
– Sead Kolasinac (injured)
– Cedric Soares (injured)
(adp/raw)
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