‘Refund the travel and hotels’: Graham Roberts reacts as Spurs v Arsenal is postponed

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Sunday’s north London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal has been postponed.

The Premier League has accepted the Gunners request to call off the match against Spurs.

Arsenal claimed they had “many players currently unavailable across our squad as a result of covid, injuries and players away with their countries at AFCON”.

Tottenham v Arsenal is the 21st top-flight game to incur a postponement this season because of covid.

Premier League rules say a club must play a game if they have 13 outfield players and one goalkeeper available.

Arsenal have Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe on Cup of Nations duty.

Meanwhile Cedric Soares, Bukayo Saka and Calum Chambers all picked up injuries in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg draw against Liverpool on Thursday.

Granit Xhaka is also unavailable after he was sent off in the first half at Anfield and Martin Odegaard missed the game through illness.

It is the third time this season Tottenham have had a Premier League fixture postponed due to covid. Meanwhile, it is the second match Arsenal have had called off.

The decision to postpone the derby between Spurs and Arsenal has been met with criticism.

Gary Neville urged the Premier League to “stop this now”:

And Tottenham legend Graham Roberts was even more critical: