‘A mockery’: Ex-Tottenham defender slams Premier League postponements after Arsenal request

Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Michael Dawson has urged the Premier League to clamp down on postponements - after Arsenal requested for this weekend’s North London derby to be rescheduled.

The Gunners could be without as many as a dozen players for the game on Sunday, with injuries, international call-ups, suspension and COVID-19 cases depleting their numbers.

Burnley’s clash with Leicester City this weekend has already been postponed with the Clarets suffering from similar circumstances.

But Dawson believes that the spate of recent postponements has made a ‘mockery’ of the rules - and feels the Premier League should only sanction postponements when a club returns a certain number of positive COVID-19 tests.

And while the former centre back was clear to point out his comments weren’t purely aimed at Arsenal, he was keen to see the Gunners’ game on Sunday go ahead.

Speaking on Soccer Saturday, Dawson said: “It’s becoming a mockery, it really is.

“Not just Arsenal - I think a lot of football clubs are using it to their advantage to get games postponed.

“You talk about players going out on loan, keep those players. If you’re talking about the fringe players and you talk about having a squad of players, everyone is having to deal with it.

“Everything will think I’m going on about Arsenal, I’m not. Other teams are doing it as well.

“The Premier League and the FA - they have to clarify how many it has to be for COVID, in my opinion.

“I think if there’s five out with COVID, no problem, proof, it’s cancelled - whatever number you want it to be,” he continued.

“But I don’t think if you have injuries. Teams have always struggled with injuries, that’s part and parcel of football. That’s why you have big squads.”