Arsenal have taken an obvious advantage - IMHO, why should any club be able to postpone a match due to injuries or "Country Commitments"? Neither has anything to do with Covid and under "normal conditions", this would never happen.
Bang on, pal.
The new guidelines brought into place for covid was always going to be abused eventually. Liverpool first, albeit they said they had a bunch of 'false positives' so were technically staying within the spirit of the guidelines for postponement. But Arsenal have completely taken the piss and outright played the system.
Subsequently, Arsenal have become quite the hated team amongst managers and fans alike, now. Tuchel responded on whether it was right for Arsenal to postpone with, "It's much better for me not to answer the question. Much, much better."
There were a variety of options Arsenal could have taken to field a team (recalling the players they loaned out just last week, for one
).
Other teams have had to suffer with injuries and players out for covid. Arsenal chose to abuse the system.
That said, look at rules in rugby. Matches are not necessarily postponed - if you are unable to field a team, the opposition is awarded a 28-0 win!!
Perhaps introduce this into the Premier League and award the opposition a 2-0 win?! That may gain a reaction.....
I think the backlash from this incident will force the Premier league to rethink/reword the current guidelines for postponement.
