DUBAI: Arsenal’s request to call off their north London derby match against Tottenham because of a lack of senior players available was granted by the Premier League on Saturday.
“We know how much this match means to our fans around the world,” Arsenal said of the decision to postpone Sunday’s match which will cause some consternation among rival teams.
It was reached because Arsenal have fewer than the required number of players — 13 outfield and one goalkeeper — because of a combination of COVID-19 cases, injuries and players away on international duty at the African Cup of Nations.
However, Arsenal have recently decided to let two players go out on loan and has one player out suspended in Granit Xhaka. In Arsenal’s most recent update, there were not many coronavirus-related absences for this game.
On Friday, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said he would be aggrieved if he discovered that rival Premier League clubs were abusing coronavirus postponement rules after his club’s request to call off a match — against Wolverhampton on Dec. 19 — was rejected despite seven COVID-19 cases in their squad.
Asked if he thought some clubs were attempting to push the limits on postponements with tactics such as including general injuries and Africa Cup of Nations absentees, Tuchel replied: “I strongly, strongly hope that’s not the case, because otherwise I would be very, very angry.”
Arsenal-Tottenham is the 21st Premier League game postponed since Dec. 12, mainly due to players having to isolate, and it is causing a backlog of fixtures for the second half of the season.
“What started out as postponements due to a pandemic has now become about clubs not having their best team,” Gary Neville, the former Manchester United and England defender and now TV pundit, said on Twitter. “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.”
Burnley’s shortage of players due to coronavirus cases and injuries prompted the postponement of their match against Leicester this weekend. Burnley have played 17 league games this season, the fewest in the division and five less than leader Manchester City.
Two weekend games in the Women’s Super League have been postponed because of virus outbreaks.
The FA, which runs the WSL, announced Saturday the game between Arsenal and Reading on Sunday was called off after Reading requested postponement.
On Friday, the FA postponed the Chelsea-Everton match scheduled Sunday because of virus cases and injuries at Everton.
FRANCE
Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Keylor Navas tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday morning and has started isolating, the French league leader said.
PSG said backup Lucas Lavallee was replacing Navas in the squad to face Brest later on Saturday.
Navas is the latest PSG player to test positive after forward Lionel Messi, winger Angel Di Maria, midfielder Nathan Bitumazala, defenders Layvin Kurzawa and Juan Bernat, and backup goalkeepers Sergio Rico and Denis Franchi.
Consternation after Arsenal-Tottenham is latest EPL game off
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Consternation after Arsenal-Tottenham is latest EPL game off
- “We know how much this match means to our fans around the world,” Arsenal said of the decision
- It was reached because Arsenal have fewer than the required number of players, 13 outfield and a goalkeeper
Ex-heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua injured in Nigeria highway crash
- Pictures circulating online showed a shirtless Joshua — a British national of Nigerian heritage — surrounded by what appeared to be broken window glass
LAGOS: Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua suffered “minor injuries” in a fatal car accident that killed two people Monday, Nigerian police said.
Pictures circulating online showed a shirtless Joshua — a British national of Nigerian heritage — surrounded by what appeared to be broken window glass on the seats around him.
The circumstances around the wreck are “currently being investigated,” said police in Ogun state, just north of Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos, which throngs with visitors from across the country and diaspora each December.
Joshua “was seated in the rear of the vehicle, sustained minor injuries and (is) receiving medical attention,” the police statement said.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told Daily Mail Sport he was on a family holiday and “awoke to the news of this incident.”
“We are trying to contact Anthony and in the meantime we don’t want to speculate on how he is but thankfully he appears OK from what I have seen in the images,” he said.
Police said the wreck, in which two people in Joshua’s car were killed, occurred around 11:00 am, in the town of Makun, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps said in a statement that the Lexus Joshua was riding in “was suspected to be traveling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit on the corridor, lost control during an overtaking maneuver and crashed into a stationary truck... by the side of the road.”
Witness Adeniyi Orojo told Punch news Joshua was traveling in a two-vehicle convoy, and was seated behind his driver.
“The passenger beside the driver and the person beside Joshua died on the spot,” he said.
The police gave the same toll, saying the two killed were “passengers in the vehicle” who “lost their lives at the scene.”
The names of the victims have not been released but a spokesman for the Ogun state governor said preliminary reports indicated they were “two male foreign nationals.”
Earlier this month Joshua knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a Netflix-backed bout in Miami.
The former Olympic champion Joshua has since been linked with a fight against compatriot and fellow former world champion Tyson Fury.
Joshua’s last fight prior to the match with Paul was a fifth round knockout loss to fellow Briton Daniel Dubois in September last year.
