“All Premier League teams should be made to play their fixtures”- Garry Neville on the postponement requests due to players missing by Arsenal


“All Premier League teams should be made to play their fixtures”- Garry Neville on the postponement requests due to players missing by Arsenal

Garry Neville believes that the premier league teams along with the EFL teams must be made to play their games instead of postponing the games due to the cited reason of players being unavailable. This comes in after Arsenal requested for postponement of their fixture against Tottenham.

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Talking on Friday Night Football, on Sky Sports, the Manchester United Veteran says:

I honestly believe that all teams, not just in the Premier League but the EFL now, must be made to play their fixtures,” said Neville.

If it was purely down to COVID in extraordinary circumstances where there was 10 or 15 players out, but we’re now talking about teams for the last few weeks where there’s no doubt they’ve been calling games off based upon whether they think they’ve got the best squad or team to win a game. It’s got to stop.”

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Garry goes on to mention that it is not anyone else’s fault but Arsenal‘s if they do have not enough available players. Arsenal have sent players such as Balogun and Maitland-Niles on a loan while Granit Xhaka has received a red card in the last match, leading to the unavailability of players.

Granit Xhaka

Also read: “If it was anybody else with the quality of squad, you’d be in trouble.”- Paul Merson on Chelsea Manager

Garry says:

Balogun’s on loan, Maitland-Niles on loan, Xhaka red card, that’s not anybody else’s fault.”

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That’s not a dig at Arsenal – I should’ve spoken about this three or four weeks ago.

For me, it [Arsenal’s request] should be rejected.

Without knowing the exact detail, unless there is an absolute load of Covid cases coming today at Arsenal, I feel having played last night at Liverpool, it has to stop now this and we have to make teams play.”

Arsenal versus Tottenham gets postponed

The Gunners who had officially requested to the Premier League for a postponement on Friday evening, have up to 12 players missing through injury, suspension and international call-ups. The Premier League has accepted the request because Arsenal failed to meet the minimum of 14 players – 13 outfields and a goalkeeper – available.

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Arsenal Flag

The Premier League said in a statement: “Following a request from Arsenal FC, the Premier League Board met today and regrettably agreed to postpone the club’s away fixture against Tottenham Hotspur, due to be played at 4:30 pm on Sunday 16 January.

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. They also have 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.”

Also read: Premier League: Manchester City vs Chelsea Player Ratings as Kevin de Brune’s goal seals a 1-0 win for Manchester City at Etihad

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