Tottenham have slammed the Premier League and Arsenal over the decision to postpone Sunday’s north London derby, saying they are ‘extremely surprised’ the request was granted.
The Gunners – who loaned out Folarin Balogun and Ainsley Maitland-Niles last week – have three players away on international duty for the Africa Cup of Nations and several injuries, but just one player, Martin Odegaard, with Covid.
Tottenham believe the rule regarding postponement was not designed for such situations and have asked the Premier League for greater clarity, particularly having seen their own requests rejected in the past.
A statement read: ‘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.’
Tottenham currently have a host of players sidelined – including Eric Dier and Son Heung-min – and one unnamed Covid case, the same as Arsenal, but had wanted and expected the game to go ahead.
MORE : North London derby postponed after Premier League accept Arsenal’s request
MORE : Ian Wright mocks Gary Neville after Manchester United legend tells Premier League to reject Arsenal request
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