We could be in the bizarre situation that if Xhaka had not been sent off they would have enough players but his suspension tips the balance to a postponement. I despair of rule makers who don't think things through so produce perverse outcomes like this.
If the rule is indeed new this season then covid would be in the spirit of the law if not the writing. The league already make public the number of positive tests across the whole PL so I don’t see the issue in breaking that down by club so at least there’s a measure of transparency. Whether we find out which players have it is ,ore down to individual club/player preference.
Not sure that is right. Before covid the chance of only having 13 players available from a squad of 25 must have been close to zero so there was no need for a rule. With covid there is a clear need for such a rule but I can't see any good logic for why it should matter what sort of injury or illness a player has. It is completely bonkers that suspended players don't count as eligible though.
I think with all the pressure that’s being put on the PL from broadcasters, like Sky, and Neville/Carragher giving their two cents at every opportunity, in addition to journalists on social media piping in, the Premier League are under pressure to ensure this game goes ahead. Mainly to prove a point that teams shouldn’t be gaming the system. I feel like they’ve created this rod their own back though, if we look at the reasons other clubs have had games postponed (Newcastle, Burnley, Leicester etc…). Can’t really blame us for wanting to take advantage. Being selfish, my own personal preference is that we see the game postponed because our squad is in dire straits at the moment. However, if they reject our request to postpone the game, I don’t think we can complain too much. The main reason why we’re struggling for numbers is poor squad planning. We knew the AFCON was happening this year and our squad planning last Summer should have factored for that, but we didn’t. And we’ve had 2 weeks of January to bring some players in, but haven’t done so. Meanwhile, we’ve let Maitland-Niles leave knowing we’re short on numbers, we’re about to let Mari go to Udinese, and loaned out Guendouzi and Torreira at the start of the season (so we have zero cover in midfield). In some ways, there’s a part of me that wants this game to go ahead so that we learn to never be so irresponsible again.
Yeah, I was saying that to a mate when they annonced the rules. It's far better than suspensions can be delayed rather than cause a whole game to be called off. I'm sure the Premier League have some asinine principle that they feel would be broken by doing this, just like how they hide behind them so VAR continues to be ****.
It matters precisely because the rule is too easily gamed. As Brunel says above, Arsenal have let players leave knowing AFCON was happening and that covid is still a factor in player availability. It’s poor planning by the club and if covid wasn’t a factor they’d be in a really bad spot coming into this match. Instead they have 1 case (IIRC) and are looking to postpone a game they’d usually have to play. Injuries, suspensions, tournaments etc are all part of the game. Covid is a significant external factor. Clubs should have to deal with the former as they usually should but the latter should be accounted for as long as all clubs are taking the required precautions.
If the PL cancels it, then Levy should state that will be on the sole condition that the rescheduled fixture has a saturday 3PM KO. < heh heh heh >
I would take the words of someone who thinks the walk from WHL to the Gilpeans' Bell is 15 mins, very lightly.
20 mins if you’ve had a few beers beforehand . If I’m in there before games I usually leave with about 40 mins til KO, 15-20min walk, queue up, go for a piss in the toilets outside the ground, walk in, if there’s enough time for a quick pint then so be it, if not straight to seat just as duel of the fates begins… Precision at its finest if you ask me.
