Tottenham Hotspur are said to be ‘angry’ that Arsenal have submitted a request to postpone Sunday’s North London derby.
Arsenal played out an admirable 0-0 draw with Liverpool on Thursday in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, a result even more impressive given that Granit Xhaka received his latest red card inside the opening half-an-hour.
The Swiss will now be suspended for Arsenal’s next two games, meaning he will miss Sunday’s scheduled derby as well as next week’s second leg, leaving the Gunners midfield options stretched.
During that game, Arsenal also saw Cedric Soares and Bukayo Saka pick up injuries, with the club having since requested a postponement to Sunday’s game against North London rivals, Spurs.
In a statement released on Friday, Arsenal said that they had ‘reluctantly’ asked the Premier League for the rescheduling of the game due to having ‘many players unavailable’, citing ‘Covid, injuries and players away with their countries at AFCON’.
However, according to Sky Sports, that request has left the Tottenham hierarchy ‘angry’, who believe that Arsenal have not suffered a significant Covid outbreak and that the game should therefore go ahead.
Arsenal are currently without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey who are all at the African Cup of Nations, while they have allowed Ainsley Maitland Niles and Folarin Balogun to leave on loan.
However, the Premier League have already set a precedent after they agreed to postpone Leicester’s game at Everton for a second time after they accepted the Foxes’ application ‘due to COVID-19 cases, injuries and players on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations’.
The Premier League are set to come to a decision at some point on Saturday.
