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"Arsenal Have Done Nothing Wrong" Over North London Derby Postponement

"Arsenal Have Done Nothing Wrong" Over North London Derby Postponement

The Gunners have been criticised for asking the Premier League to postpone their game with Tottenham Hotspur, with their rivals very unhappy

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Micah Richards has defended Arsenal, after the Gunners got their game with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday delayed due to a lack of available players.

The Gunners got a very credible draw with Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi final on Thursday night, made even more impressive by Granit Xhaka's borderline impressive sending off.

The midfielder's early bath also meant he wouldn't be available for the north London derby and Mikel Arteta's team then asked for the match to be delayed, with one Covid case also in their ranks.

Spurs certainly weren't happy with the decision on Saturday to accept their rivals request, pointing out they got kicked out of the Europa Conference League for postponing a game, but Richards believes every club would do the same.

Speaking on Sky Sports, the former Manchester City full back said the Gunners had done nothing wrong and was bemused by all the criticism.

"In my opinion, they've done nothing wrong. Let's be honest, other clubs would do the same thing, it's not an Arsenal thing," the Sky pundit said.

"Every team in the Premier League would look after themselves & if they say they wouldn't then they're lying."

Several other games in the league have been postponed over the past month and Arsenal themselves were annoyed when Liverpool did the same for the original Carabao Cup first leg date just 10 days ago.

On that occasion the positive Covid tests that led to the postponement ended up being false positives, with only one player actually testing for the virus.

Gary Neville called for all games to go ahead, before the derby was postponed, and Jamie Carragher joined his fellow pundit by trolling Gunners' fans.

Xhaka's red card left Arsenal a midfielder short for the weekend. Image: PA Images
Xhaka's red card left Arsenal a midfielder short for the weekend. Image: PA Images

Whilst Richards, and Arsenal fans, backed the decision for the game to go ahead, many pointed out that Leeds United have had to play their youngsters for a big chunk of the season due to injuries.

Marcelo Bielsa's side were once again left short on Sunday against West Ham, in what was supposed to be the precursor to the north London derby, when two players went off injured.

The Yorkshire side had to bring on teenagers Lewis Bate and Leo Hjelde in the first half.

Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports/PA

Topics: Micah Richards, Arsenal, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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@Sidler28