Arsenal have applied to the Premier League to have Sunday’s North London derby postponed.
In a statement on the official website, they say:
We can confirm we have made an application to the Premier League for the postponement of Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur.
We have reluctantly taken this step but we have many players currently unavailable across our squad as a result of Covid, injuries and players away with their countries at AFCON.
We will provide more information as soon as it’s available.
The Gunners are without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe and Mohamed Elneny who are on AFCON duty, while this week Martin Odegaard tested positive for Covid.
Cedric picked up an injury during the 0-0 draw with Liverpool, while there are ongoing fitness concerns around Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
After the game at Anfield, manager Mikel Arteta revealed there were likely to be more fitness issues, saying, “We had concerns already before the match against Liverpool, and after the game we had some more issues.”
The decision to apply for the postponement comes after the squad was assessed at London Colney this afternoon.
The Premier League say, “The Premier League Board will meet tomorrow to review the application and inform both clubs and their fans of its decision.”
We’ll probably get fined by the FA for making an application.
Goodstuff. How soon will Partey be available?
Glad to see we’ve taken our ‘talks’ about a postponement to full-blown serious application now. No messing around with these guys.
Ghana lost their opening match. Fingers crossed, they also lose the next and pack their bags. It’s not just about Partey. I’m Nigerian, so that’ll be perfectly fine with me. In football, Nigeria-Ghana is like Englang-Scotland, only 10 times fiercer. We never wish them well.
Ghana must go, eh?
Like in packing their “Ghana-must-go” bags? Pun definitely intended.🤣🤣🤣
Arsenal has tons of Indian & Nigerian fans! Good to hear!
We’ll lose on the ground that we only need to field 10 players.
Or on the grounds we’re not Liverpool.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
What the hell is a gander, anyway?
Male goose.
City in Newfoundland. Cold.
Something you take.
Tried to upvote this twice, but they wouldn’t let me.
But we will still beat sp*rs with 10 players. They are sh*t and for that reason the game will go ahead. That is the reason FA will give.
Nice to see the club using a bit of cunning.
If we can get the game called off until next month we should be able to use our new signings.
I’m not holding my breath waiting for a yes, though.
Partey, Pepe and *checks notes* Elneny will be Like New Signings
Our youth team could beat that shower…. I’d just be glad that we then didn’t pick up any more injuries (/suspensions) ahead of the reverse fixture with Liverpool
Thought having the game played later with the square in a match better state would be a more pleasant outcome but those cunts apparently ragging because of our application is turning out to be quite amusing.
It’s cause they know their only chance of beating us is in our current state
Watch us get turned down
Spot on mate.
I’d welcome it; would just pour gas on the fire Arteta has lit within this team. We’d be raging on Sunday …
Can you pour gas?
Yes. Especially when that “gas” he’s referring to is gasoline. You do it whenever you go to the petrol pump.
Gas(oline) => petrol
I personally think we will too.
But then imagine the LOLS when we turn them over 😃
Hopefully, the PL will see sense and grant a postponement because at this rate Mikel Arteta will be asking for people on here to help out 😉
I’m sure that Johnny 4 Skin could step up.
4 skin has tickled me
I’m quite sure that it’s supposed to be the other way around.
Inanimate Carbon Rod is probably available.
Or maybe Fatgooner could finally get to put his boots where his mouth is.
Fatgooner would help at goal and Rambling Pete as a holding midfielder.😜😜😜
Fatgooner would be at goal with Johnny 4 Hats as a holding midfielder.😜😜😜
It’s the season of anomalies.
Will now see if premier league has vendetta against us, I think they’ll make us play it.
I notice carragher and Neville have suddenly found a problem with these requests. Strange that
…
I think it’s amazing that nothing was said when Leicester were using injuries to get games cancelled, now it’s us & all the pundits are losing their mind
They all hate Arsenal and I’m fine with that.
Neville trying to pre-empt the tide of Twitter abuse last night by saying it wasn’t just about us & he should’ve said it 3 weeks ago. Where was this faux outrage when Wolves pulled this against us then all miraculously recovered to play United 6 days later? Or when Klopp admitted to the ol’ lemon juice on an LFT trick? Least we’ve got actually excuses to want it, 40 “false positives”? Yeah, alright Jurgen *Rolls eyes*
To be honest i think the game should be played, just like the other postponed games should have been. I’ve said on here before that its a bit of a joke that they are cancelling games more because of injuries than covid. But i can see why we have done it, everyone else has, so it would be unfair if we don’t have it called off as well. It will probably get turned down anyway because its us
Keep on playing players with problems, because some players have Covid, the players with problems get injured.
I don’t disagree with your sentiment but as Blogs pointed out in his daily today the precedent has been set.
For me, the only time games should be postponed is when you can prove a team is so rife with Covid that playing the game could cause a significant spreading event between clubs.
If your protocols are OK and have youth players available you should be able to avoid losing half the team to COVID.
Suspensions, injuries, and AFCON shouldn’t be factored in.
But we are where we are 🤷🏻♂️
It’s hard to know where to draw the line isn’t it, but I do think AFCON should be factored in as it was supposed to be played in June/July 2021 but postponed for 6 months due to the coronavirus.
I totally agree with you. Thats what i meant by i can see why we’ve done it, the precedent has been set and from an arsenal point of view, why not do it too? It will benefit us in the long run, even if it does feel a bit bad using the rules in this way
The BBC article on this email a horseshit. Goes in depth to explain our absentees and then goes on to explain the covid postponement rules.
Using media to influence opinion 101.
Reading BBC is your mistake.
The pundits are now saying the buck has to stop with Arsenal. Typical. But it was okay for Liverpool to have ‘false positives’ and Leicester to start the saying they can’t play with injuries and lads at AFCON. But OH NO with Arsenal requesting postponement for the first time we look like the morons thanks to Carragher et al.
12 players – IT NEEDS TO STOP
40 false positives – It could happen to anybody
Just more proof everybody hates us now we actually look a competent side
Smart. The fact that Sp*rs are fuming makes it even better.
Premier League rules say a club must play a game if they have 13 outfield players available (and one goalkeeper).
By my calculations we only have 10 known fit outfield players;
Tierney, White, Gabriel, Lacazette, Holding, Tavares, Mari, Lokonga, Nketiah, Martinelli.
And the 12 missing/doubtful;
Aubameyang, Partey, Elneny, Pepe, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, ESR, Tomiyasu, Cedric, Chambers, Kolasinac.
So I suspect The FA will grant the postponement.
If the PL are being harsh, they could also count Patino as a first teamer, because he got 10 minutes against Sunderland in the League cup (his FA cup 3rd round start doesn’t count for this).
Also could they count Xhaka towards our 13, since it’s his fault he is suspended?
Patino isn’t officially registered as one of the 25 first team squad players so I don’t think he’s taken into account with the 13 outfield players rule. I’m just speculating.
Actually neither are Saka and ESR – both still registered as an U21!
Otherwise the EFL would have made Liverpool play last week as they would obviously have dozens of U21 players.
You are too sensible for FA.
You need to add Kola somewhere
I did add him – I would never forget him.
I wish I could
Me too, but AFAIK he’s fit
A sudden outbreak of the new Klop variant of concern?
If the postponement is granted, sp***rs is going to have a brain explosion when we field Vlahovic and Melo in the delayed fixture!
To be fair, they may have Son back in the re-arranged fixture, and they will almost certainly make a few January signings of their own, so I don’t reckon Conte will complain too much.
……………………………Laca…………………………………
Tavares……………………………………………….Martinelli
………………………….Smith-Rowe………………………..
Tierney…………Sambi…………….White……..Tomiyasu
……………..Gabriel…………………..Holding………………
…………………………Ramsdale……………………………..
Lets go.
Tomiyasu and ESR are on the doubtful list. If Arsenal are trying to get the game postponed, you can bet we have them in the ‘ruled out’ column.
Also noteworthy that ESR hasn’t played 90 minutes since November.
If other clubs are going to the rules to get postponements when it helps them, then we definitely should too. But I still think it’s crazy that the system allows non-Covid absences to be included the same as Covid. This flips loads of the normal competitive structure on its head: 1- Clubs with small squads get rewarded with easier postponements. 2- Who decides if borderline injured players (like Saka/Chamber) are genuinely not fit enough to play? Clubs can just rest players instead of worrying about playing them when half-fit. 3- Clubs with players at AFCON get to postpone until after… Read more »
Good points there. My Saturday morning 2 cents; 1; Clubs with smaller squads will eventually have to play their postponed games sooner or later anyway. 2; The FA possibly relying on honesty here. I mean they can request a physio’s report, but again, easy to skew in the favour of the club. 3; AFCON was originally supposed to be played June/July 2021, so it’s not like we’re gaining an unfair advantage here, as we never should be missing our AFCON players in the first instance. 4; Not sure how the AMN situation works. He was part of the official 25… Read more »
Just need to conjure up 9 false positives this morning.
I’m against this. I think we should play.
Though not as clear cut as usual obviously. I wish we’d made that point in the press release – rules unclear so we’re testing them or some such. Loads of people are reading the press release out of context.
Do you really want to go there with a 5-3-2 team of Ramsdale; Tavares (at RB), Holding, Gabriel, Mari, Tierney; Lokonga, White (CM), Martinelli; Lacazette, Nketiah.
With Leno on the bench with eight U23’s.
The longer it goes the more likely we will play
Yeah, you have to believe that the PL is putting Arsenal through the ringers on this one, unlike everyone else in the league. As I said above, I’d be happy if they forced us to play. We all know we are held to a different set of rules on and off the pitch by the officials and the media, and this would simply make it obvious to everyone. It would also give Arteta that extra little bit to galvanize the club’s mentality going forward, and hopefully unify the fans again once and for all. Amazon couldn’t have asked for more… Read more »
Damn.