Today’s much-discussed Derby postponement came in the form of the Premier League announcement as follows:
“With Arsenal having fewer than the required number of players available for the match (13 outfield players and one goalkeeper), the Board accepted the club’s application.
The decision is a result of a combination of COVID-19, existing and recent injuries and players on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations. All clubs are able to apply for a postponement if COVID-19 infections are a factor in their request.”
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Since I had nearly finished my preview before we found out today’s game is not going to be played, I thought to turn this piece into my random impressions of where the two clubs’ seasons seem to be going at the moment, so here goes my non-preview.
The ‘holics pound
First things first: My prediction would have been Spurs 0, Arsenal 13.
Unfortunately it may be difficult to find the bookmakers who will accept such a bet at this point but it could well be worth a punt.
The Arsenal
The Gunners’ excellent run of five straight wins leading up to the end of 2021 was interrupted in the first two matches of 2022 despite an excellent performance in the loss to Manchester City. The dreadful Cup exit at Nottingham Forest was another story. But after Granit Xhaka’s 25th minute dismissal at Liverpool a heroic rearguard action by the 10-man Gunners prevented a third consecutive defeat in the 0-0 draw in the Carabao Cup first leg. Just the sort of result a coach would have wanted to build on going into the Derby, if the depleted Gunners had had enough players available for it. Over a longer stretch, the Gunners compiled an impressive league record of 11-2-3 in the games bookended by their two defeats to Manchester City on August 28 and January 1. One of those wins came in September when they beat Spurs 3-1 at the Emirates.
But if Sunday’s game had been played and the Gunners had lost it (double portion of pie in the sky), they would have been surpassed in the table by their North London rivals, who also enjoy the advantage of two matches in hand due to Covid-related postponements. Little wonder that Spurs fans threw a fit when the game was postponed, but rules are rules, apparently.
Some of Arsenal’s unavailable players include AFCON absentees (Partey, Elneny, Auba), loaned players (AMN), suspension (Xhaka) and Covid (Ødegaard). No, Xhaka’s suspension was not a factor in the League’s decision to call it off; but yes, our dependably undependable midfielder would have been unavailable for this critical match because he was sent off in our last game. With Auba and Laca growing older, and the AFCON midfield absences, Arsenal have known for a long time that January signings would be desirable if not absolutely essential, so what’s happening, Mikel?
In his press conference before the Forest game, Arteta said: “Obviously we are going to move, and we are going to look for options, because we are very short.” But as James McNicholas wrote in The Athletic after Arsenal’s underwhelming performance at Nottingham, transfer window additions now feel more like a necessity than a bonus.
The Odious Opposition
Spurs have been quite solid at home this season with 7 wins in 10 league outings, drawing with Liverpool and losing only to Chelsea and Manchester United (both losses under Nuno Espírito Santo). Son Heung-min has been a major reason for their good form but a calf injury rules him out until the end of January. Son has been Spurs’ most dangerous attacker with 8 goals, or double the tally of Harry Kane, who used to be notorious for scoring most of his goals in the season’s second half. After Citeh snatched their unlikely victory at the Emirates on January 1st came the unwelcome news of a Spurs late goal that gave them their fifth win in eight unbeaten league matches since September 2 when Antonio Conte took the reins from the beleaguered Nuno Espírito Santo. Over the last 11 days Spurs played two Carabao Cup semifinal legs against Chelsea, losing 0-2 away before going out with a rather meek 0-1 at home. Between the legs Spurs overcame League One relegation candidates Morecambe in the FA Cup. Press reports say Spurs home support booed their players off at halftime in consecutive matches, and at fulltime after the second Chelsea tie. No doubt, the Gunners would have enjoyed driving an even deeper wedge between them and their supporters with that 13 goal pasting.
The week ahead
But with the Derby called off for now, the Gunners must turn their attention to the second chapter of their Carabao Cup semifinal against Liverpool on Thursday evening, and a home league fixture against Burnley on Sunday. Hopefully we will see some player reinforcements arriving soon, others recovering from what ails them, and the rest of the league will nick a few points off the odious opposition.
Cheers, ‘holics, and enjoy your Sunday.
Excellent recycling, bt8. I’m green with envy.
Overseas Holics will be unlikely to have seen the coverage by Sky who are quite mortified about the cancellation of their Super Sunday blockbuster . Sky have attempted to fill the gap in coverage by extending a debate on the ethics of the cancellation and the quote in the previous drinks by Micah Richards ( who boasted Gooner supporting credentials before moving to Man City ) burst their bubble when he and Souness of all people refused to condemn them because they believed any club would have done the same .
There was no debate at all on the host of false positives which Liverpool generated to get the Carabao Cup semi postponed and no mention that Arsenal are a) acting within the letter of the PL regulations and b) are not the first club to ask for a postponement because of non-Covid absentees .
I often find Arsenal fans even on here a bit paranoid but this is a very real example of biased coverage . One friend of mine told me that he would rather we went ahead and lost ( to bloody Tottnumb) rather than be embarrassed on social media . That says everything about how much he values social media but I don’t have the tiniest of misgivings about getting the game put off . I can’t believe any club in Arsenal’s position wouldn’t have done this and the fact the PL upheld their request shows it was appropriate given current regulations.
Bollocks to the hypocrites who are giving Arsenal flak . I’m sure the prannet Durham will add to the cacophony tomorrow. Frankly their angst and discomfort is adding to my enjoyment of the situation
As for the game we would never have won 13-0. VAR would have disallowed 7. 6-0mis nearer the mark
Once the precedent was set and games were allowed to be called off for injuries, AFCON absences AND Covid, it was inevitable that clubs would take the absolute piss. Calling off a game when you have ONE definite Covid case and a further single reported positive test is piss takery of the highest order and the sort of thing we’d be slaughtering other clubs for.
You can’t be slagging Liverpool off two or three days ago for their phantom positives that were false then think it’s fine and dandy to pull a stroke like this.
I suppose I don’t blame the club for applying shithousery when it’s allowed and the precedent is set, but I wish they hadn’t.
Partly because I ended up watching Celtic Women on BBC Alba and my Gaelic is a bit rusty. 🙂
Cynic,
In other words we’d be mugs not to try to get the game called off. If we objected to Liverpool’s actions do we take the moral high ground and play a team which is mangled by a S**s side I’m sure we’d beat given a level playing field? That’s not only naive , it’s reckless and unnecessary . That game is pivotal in who qualifies for the Champions League Do we put £40 million at risk on a very questionable point of principle ? Do we care about earning the faux gratitude of Sky and TalkSport and see our prospects for next season go up in smoke? The rules were originally drawn up to prevent unrepresentative sides having to fulfil fixtures when they can’t field a credible team . Arsenal could not field 13 proper first team players plus a keeper ( and would have had to prove that ) . The Covid issue is one aspect but these rules pre-dated Covid
Looking at the first team squad versus the injury table, this is the team we could have out on the pitch: Ramsdale, Tierney, Gabriel, White, Holding, Tavares, Mari, Lokonga, Laca, Nketiah, and Martinelli. The bench would consist of Leno plus a bunch of non-first team players. And this doesn’t take into consideration that we had another player (unknown) who tested positive after the decision to postpone was made. Requesting the match to be postponed does not seem unreasonable.
I suspect if Xhaka and one of Odegaard, ESR, or Saka were available, Arteta would have played the match even though he still would have only had 12 first team players available.
I’m hearing unconfirmed reports that Saka will miss the next two games.
Given we also have a Covid absentee we are still very short for Thursday
It seems likely that our best possible team might be
Ramsdale
Tomayisu White Gabriel Tierney
S-Lok Chambers
Odegaard
ESR Laca Martinelli
Subs – Leno, Holding , Tavares, Patino , Hutchinson , Nketiah, Biereth , Salah M’ Hand , Cedric or Mari
But we will have a Covid absentee if they tested positive on Saturday ( 5 day rule starts on Monday ) and Tomi, ESR and Cedric are doubtful . Ox was taken off for Liverpool with an ankle injury but they are at full strength apart from Mane, Salah , Origi , Thiago and Keita
If we objected to Liverpool’s actions do we take the moral high ground
There was a time when the moral high ground belonged to us. I’m sure you remember us refusing to play a game a few days after Hillsborough despite the implicit threat of a points deduction for taking unilateral action? That won us a lot of friends on Merseyside, as I recall.
Still, it’s done now. Like I said, I don’t blame the club but I don’t like it.
Sorry Cynic, but there comes a point when what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Liverpool actively made stuff up last week and get no criticism from the media. We are simply applying the rules that have been applied to other clubs. Not to do so would be a spectacular act of self-harming. As TTG says, there is no appeasement of the media in their attitude towards us. Just as George did, we need to foster a sense of us against the world,rather than engage in competitive self-denigration.
After years of the moral high ground taking getting us nowhere, I welcome the new attitude of giving as good as we get.
We’re not in it to make friends in Liverpool. The kind of friends, by the way, who reneged on a contract when we triggered the £40m + 1. We would have been idiots to pay more than the minimum consideration over the contract amount. We would be idiots not to apply the rules that others already have.
Cynic
I genuinely don’t remember the Hillsborough issue ( in that context ) at all.As I remember it all football was suspended for a couple of weeks. I don’t remember a points deduction threat for anybody .I’ve Googled it and can see no sign of it
I do remember replaying that Cup tie because of the Kanu/ Overmars incident against Sheffield United . Nobody has ever done that . I can’t think of another club who would have done it. We just got stick for playing on after they kicked the ball out!
Cynic
I’ve now found it but I don’t think a points deduction would ever have been seriously contemplated . But we did cancel our games without consulting the league and that was a morally correct stance . Interesting that Liverpool behaved impeccably then something that could not be said last week.
It’s not Arsenal’s job to be the conscience of football but over the years it has been a club with a deal more integrity than most of the rest of the clubs in this country . We even had a Vicar on the Board and were supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi. I guess the Pope was otherwise engaged !
Nice goal by Pepe at AFCON (about 8 mins in in the clip), but stay for the goalkeeping calamity at the very end.
Nice summary of our pre-match form and situation, bt8. Just a tad optimistic, mate.
Like many I would have preferred that the PL had established a transparent, consistent and coherent policy on the criteria for match postponement. However they did not and we are where we are.
Blogs was correct this morning in pointing the finger at the PL. The anti-Arsenal wailing and gnashing of teeth by the media should galvanise our players for the rest of the season. As Blogs observes, their silence on the root cause of the problem and previous manipulation of the process by other clubs is laughable. The bleating from Nevillle and Carragher was presumably on behalf of their employer’s concern about Super Sunday income, magnified by their deep antipathy towards the Arsenal. Their ire was also misdirected and all the more ridiculous after their silence on previous postponements and when dressed up as concern for travelling fans. Even more laughable is the ‘official press statement’ from the Marshdwellers and the wails from their followers. Boiling their piss is child’s play.
Given the squad depletion, Arsenal did exactly the right thing by using the appeal process devised by the PL. I am confident that Arsenal did not misrepresent their situation. By all accounts the process takes into account the number of fit eligible players and the impact of Covid, injuries and AFCON absences.
Without question the PL criteria are wooly but them’s the rules. Under the circumstances they faced with player availability the Arsenal management would have been negligent not to appeal for postponement.
As an erstwhile 49ers fan I can say they beat the Cowboys in the playoffs. Nobody else will.
Fine work bt8 👍
Neville, carragher and spuds are unhappy, a win treble that warms my heart.
But can Mike Dean be happy with the decision having gone Arsenal’s way?
That would make it the quadrifecta I believe. But only in Brazil, superfecta elsewhere. First four in Australia. Wiki tells me this stuff.
Dean must at heart be a deeply unhappy man as he always craves more attention so we can take him as a given for quadrifecta of distressed enemies of all things Gooner😃
Good adaptative skills, bt8!
Interesting debate, TTG and Cynic with added CER.
I like your idealistic take, Cynic, and my heart feels the same, but I think us keeping the moral high ground as a football club went a while ago, and I tend to support a more pragmatic position these days. As long as we play by the rules and do not lie, in this particular case, I can’t see much wrong.
Basically, everything bath put more eloquently @13.
Thanks to all for reading the post and for your kind comments. Is 20 the new fifty?
A score is a score, bt8.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&tbm=vid&q=music+festival+youtube+2021&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib07KNgbn1AhV0CjQIHcP8ApkQ8ccDKAJ6BAgMEAU&biw=320&bih=522&dpr=2#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:d614438b,vid:VzTyMORaEXQ,st:0
Looks like 22 doesn’t work so here’s another try at it:
Aubameyang is returning to Arsenal as Gabon have released him and Lemina back to their clubs to investigate post-Covid ‘cardiac lesions ‘. Bath covered this very effectively in the WA group. One hope it is a precaution and nothing sinister . It’s not been a very good few months for Auba .
Not a nice thing for AFTV to be associated with
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-fan-tv-star-mr-25967813
And there was me always thinking: ‘to be associated with AFTV: not a nice thing’.
But yes, there were enough signs on twitter that the guy was a nasty twat, but I didn’t realise he was at that level of criminal derangement.
Ollie,
I’ve had very little to do with AFTV. I used to pass them as I left the ground gathering like hyenas after a bad result on the entrance to the Ken Friar Bridge – a situation which they almost seemed to relish . I don’t know what the collective noun is for ignoramuses but they used to repel me . I’m so pleased that one huge part of our revival this season is the much better atmosphere both at home and away.
Can I suggest a clot of ignoramuses? Or a schlub. Or even a slaphead of ignoramuses, perhaps.
Separately, I am looking forward to the odium that will inevitably be raining down from Neville et al on Burnley for seeking to postpone its game against Watford. Clearly just trying to make sure they can put out their best team against a relegation rival.
What, you say?…
I get you TTG. One of the issues with social media, including youtube etc is there is scant regard for reasonable debate and facts. Popularity, clicks, views is all that matters, and everyone wants to be a star in their own play (or someone else’s) no matter the cost.
Hopefully the good atmosphere will persist long term even when/if there are difficulties on the pitch. Recent events certainly seem to have reunited the fanbase overall.
I like ‘schlub’ Ned. Mostly because I had never heard that word before!
Nice one bt8. You’ve swerved at the last minute without losing a step of pace in a way reminiscent of Bobby Pires.
I loved the ‘holics pound too!
I’d never heard ‘schlub’ either – lovely word. Cheers Ned.
A schlub it is then ! Great word and sufficiently insulting to convey disapproval
I’m hearing we are really struggling to put out a strong team on Thursday . Tierney apparently picked up an injury and ESR is reverting to the rather injury prone lad we saw as he came to prominence . If Saka is injured we will really find it hard to put a side together especially as we are so weak in midfield. We have a 17 day break after the Burnley game so if we can win the next two we have an opportunity to get players fit and to get a couple of reinforcements in. Best of all Granit will be back .
Burnley vs Watford postponed. I blame Arsenal.
It is good news that we have Ben Knapper keeping an eye on the club’s loan deals. It means we have someone ideally placed to recall everyone in January when the loans he has arranged haven’t worked out. 🤣
CER.
In the interests of ensuring that as many fixtures as possible are fulfilled, by the simple expedient of reducing the number of injuries across the league, I personally, would just cancel all the Burnley games.
At least with that monogram somebody might decide he is a Grand Prix, you might think.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60031420
He seems to be an interesting man, and genuinely happy at Brighton too.
GSD@34: 🙂
CER thanks for the update. I’ll have to find something else to do with my time.
The outrage at this postponement is deafening in its silence. I wonder why?
Blogs has found an interesting analysis of the after effects of Covid on footballers in, of all places, the Economist!
https://archive.is/qGWKs
Well another year passes and my mate Dave is missed. But he kmows that I have to say this
Guys how scared are you ? lets face it we are only the Spuds up the road, surely we cant have you quaking in your boots.
Your club deifies Karma, avioding us, we were missing three players to quarantine last time we met, but I feel you might get a shock this week, Liverpool will smell the fear in the air!! FEAR!!
For those of you who remember Captian scarlet. does not Arty look a bit like captian black
“This is the voice of mistyfied we are coming to get you Arselings!
If the original rules had been you play or it’s a forfeit by 3-0, no club would have called off a single fixture. Lack of players is Sunday League stuff.
Embarrassing for every club that’s done it.
I tend to agree, Cynic. But when there is so much money at stake that takes precedence among the owners….
Coming next – Oh, we can’t possibly fit all our games in, it’s so unfair that the league insists we play five games in twelve days, what about the workload on the poor players, won’t someone think of the children etc etc
Or you push back the end of the season by a fortnight. It’s not beyond the wit of man…
CER@43: Difficult to push back the end of the season as the next one has to start early to accommodate the World Cup in Qatar. You mentioned something about the primacy of money…
Hello Cusop,
long time no see, I miss the guvnor too.
Not sure about the rest of your post though, you were
pretty dier last time we played😉
I think all fans agree that the PL have done a bad job of handling postponements.
Although, personally, I find the idea that football should be the only industry in the world that just carries on as though Covid does not exist, without any sort of guidelines for navigating the first global pandemic in living memory, to be absurd. And that’s the nicest word I have for such a viewpoint.
Good post bt8!
Arsenal did exactly what was right for the club, and well within all legal and ethical boundaries. We didn’t fabricate any injuries or illness or absences, we simply presented our condition, requested — and not demanded — a postponement as per the rules PL itself established for this season.
It is interesting to observe that only after Arsenal got a postponement request approved all of these deep introspection about about PL rules are now attempted. 10+ matches have been postponed earlier and everyone just went along with a shrug of the shoulders and “these are the times we live in” stoicism. But the moment the Arsenal gets a bit of benefit from the same rules all hell broke loose.
Embarrassing, shameless, hypocrisy from everyone and anyone who suddenly started to find this season’s PL rules for postponements problematic only after the Arsenal match was postponed and had stayed silent until then.
Welcome back Cusop, it’s been a while since we heard your misdirected diatribes. 😉
I have a feeling that if Dave had been around to hear Spurs supporters’ hysterical reactions to the postponement his reaction might have been Ha Ha Ha or something much more clever than that.
Cheers!
Kolasinac on his way to Marseille. Never anywhere near the top drawer as a left back his main value was as a bodyguard for Ozil.
Cusop, you misunderstand the rules. It’s not about the number of quarantined players but about the number of first team squad players fit enough to be selected: 13 plus a goalkeeper is the rule. You may not like it, I don’t particularly agree with it, but that’s the rule and that why the PL postponed the NLD.
We’ve taken over £1m per week off the wage bill in the last 18 months.
Well in Bath
GSD ,
I wonder how Ben Knapper’s annual appraisal will go? If I was doing it I might point out the odd mistake he has made …like almost every player he has loaned out . He has chosen some extraordinarily inappropriate clubs and in so doing may well have possibly stymied the career of some promising young players . I’ve seen John-Jules play with Balogun and he was much better . He made the first team before him and yet he can’t get a game at Blackpool . Can Azeez really not get a game at Portsmouth ? Can Moller who was great last season not play in the German Third Division ? This is bearing in mind we are almost certainly paying their salaries so it’s a free loan for the smaller club .
Ben you’re on a slippery slope son….thought . Could his name be Ben Knaffer ?
Kolasinac played in 118 games for us. Scary stuff. 😬
Anyway, all the best to him.
TTG
Azeez got a few games towards the end of the loan. And it may have been good for him to go from being top prospect with us to really having to earn his place in a team. That one was not a great loan but not awful either.
The rest look pretty weak.
I reckon Knapper has more time. I don’t really know much about him or how he got the gig. I just hope we see more success in January.
COYB!
Well in for the half-ton, Bath
I tracked down the paper that The Economist wrote up. It was published last summer but appears to have been overlooked until now.
If I am reading the charts correctly, it seems that the players that got infected with Covid were underperforming teammates who would not get it well before the infection was detected (0-75 days), albeit slightly and within statistical margins of error.
One tidbit from the full paper is that Covid-19 appears to affect forwards and goalkeepers disproportionately compared to other positions.
Partey’s coming home already.
Amusing that while Gabon qualify, Aubameyang is back too, whether he plays for us or not in the near future.
GSD@54: Ben White has spoken of how much of a shock it was to him when he went out on loan to Newport in League Two when he was at Brighton, far removed from the perfect facilities of a category one academy at a Premier League club. But he felt the experience, if eye-opening, had been good for him, teaching him to appreciate what it means to play for a Premiership club.
Ben White also said that being in a league where players’ relied on win bonuses for the bulk of their take-home pay — the average League Two wage is £1,000 a week — he learnt what it meant to scrap for every point.
Random trivia of the day to keep the tumbleweed at bay:
In beating Birmingham 6-2, Fulham became the first English side in 88 years to score six or more goals in three consecutive league games, a feat last achieved by Chester City in the 1933-34 season (v Rochdale 7-1, Accrington Stanley 7-0 and Darlington 8-0 in the Third Division North; between the Rochdale and Accrington Stanley games Chester also beat Darlington 6-1 in the FA Cup).
Jeorge Bird’s match report on the U23s 4-0 win over Bournemouth:
Report – Marcelo Flores hits brace and Omari Hutchinson impresses as Arsenal U23s thrash Bournemouth
Kudos to Fulham for matching the triple 6 goal feat of Chester City, and thanks Ned for bringing it to my rapt attention. Nice town, Chester, or at least it was 40-odd years ago when I spent a night there on my way to or from North Wales.
Astutely, John Oliver predicts that it will take Tottenham a half of a decade to recover from Jose because “the stench of Mourinho lives long.”
John Oliver is a Liverpool fan and grew up ‘somewhere in England’ as Bedford was known during World War 2. I can imagine he would not be a Mourinho man.
Excellent piece here by Tim Stillman
C100@64: Thanks for the link. An interesting read from Tim Stillman. I thought the points about Arteta and by extension, the club, being willing to take the financial hit to get the culture right in the long term were well made.
In other news, the Corporal, formerly of this parish, is off to Australia on loan to Melbourne City for the final six months of his Forest contract. He is the sort of player whose honesty the new Arsenal crowd would have taken to, albeit recognising that he wasn’t quite at the required level. Good luck to him Down Under.
Carl Jenkinson is being sent to Australia?…
Sounds like Corporal punishment.
I’ll get my coat. 😯
GSD 🤣🤣🤣 but good luck, bon voyage to the Corporal. He, Calum and Tomiyasu all share a similar body type but I listed them in the order of ascending agility. The corporal may be able to chase a few kangaroos though, so long as fully vaxxxed.
He might even make it back if he plays his cards right.
bt8. Nah mate, the kangaroos would have him in their pockets!
Ødegaard is back in training, according to the pre-Liverpool training photos on the club site, but no sign of Gabriel or any full-backs.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>