New rules over postponements could be introduced following north London Derby controversy

North London derby controversially postponed

The north London derby, due to take place on Sunday, was postponed due to Arsenal not having enough players to meet the criteria (13 outfield senior players and a goalkeeper), but because only one player was out with COVID, the decision prompted backlash across social media, with many accusing Arsenal of abusing the rules.

Game off. What started out as postponements due to a pandemic has now become about clubs not having their best team . The Premier League must stop this now , draw a line in the sand and say all games go ahead unless you have an exceptional amount of CV cases . It’s wrong 👍

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) January 15, 2022

Tottenham themselves put out a statement, saying:

“The original intention of the guidance…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.”

Club statement.

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 15, 2022

However, ahead of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final second leg against Liverpool, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta hit back, saying:

“We didn’t have the players necessary to put a squad available to compete in a Premier League match, that is 100 per cent guaranteed.

This is a no-win situation. When we played the first three games of the season, when other teams were postponing matches, and we played and we tried tom play, we were killed. [People said] don’t be naive, if you have that many players out don’t play with your kids.

Now we postponed the match for all the right reasons, believe me, and as well you get those reactions. But I think they are normal.”

But, as a consequence of the controversy, could we see rule changes?

Rule changes in the works

Now, as per BBC Sport, rule changes could be on the way.

Simon Stone reports that:

“The Premier League is looking into changing its guidance around match postponements after criticism over the number of games being called off.”

And he adds that any news rules could come into effect by the 8th February, claiming that:

“There will not be enough time to implement changes for this weekend but when the Premier League resumes after its two-week winter break on 8 February, an agreement over amended guidance is likely to have been reached.”

Is this the right move for the Premier League?

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