Martin Keown stated that he is ‘not scared of Tottenham’ after admitting that he wanted the north London derby to be postponed before it was officially announced by Arsenal, as he told Football Focus.
The former defender stated that ‘Arsenal were right’ in trying to postpone the match, despite admitting that others have done so in ‘suspicious’ circumstances.
Arsenal asked for Sunday’s game to be called off because of unavailable players due to COVID, injuries, suspensions and players on Africa Cup of Nations duty.
That was backed by the Premier League, even though Spurs were left ‘extremely surprised’ by the call because quite a lot of their issues weren’t related to COVID, as they confirmed in their club statement.
But the problem doesn’t stem with Arsenal, but the Premier League and how they have been allowing teams to postpone matches outside of any serious COVID issues or outbreaks.
Nonetheless, before the official call was made, Keown made his feelings clear on the matter but admitted that he wasn’t fearing Spurs given his comments.
“Well, I want the game off, naturally,” said Keown. “As an Arsenal fan seeing Saka leave the pitch the other night. Xhaka as well sent off. A lot of players for Arsenal at the AFCON’s.
“You can look at all the teams getting games off here in suspicious circumstances, so I think Arsenal are right to get the game off.
“But I am not scared of Spurs.”
It’s the Premier League who are the ones to blame because they have allowed near-on every team to have matches called off when many think they shouldn’t be.
All it does is set a precedent for the second half of the season and a massive hole awaiting those in the Premier League’s boardroom.
What if Watford, who are fighting relegation, ask for their game to be postponed on the final game of the season for similar circumstances if they need to stay up?
Based on the north London derby and other postponed matches, the Premier League will have to follow suit.
But if that happens, then it ruins the integrity of the competition and causes a heap of mess because Burnley and Newcastle, who clash on the final day, won’t be able to play because Watford can’t – that’s if they are all still battling relegation.
Either way, this is a problematic issue and the clubs shouldn’t be criticised here, but those higher up.
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