Postponements farce sees EPL explore tightening of rules

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When Arsenal this week sent Pablo Mari away on loan and released Sead Kolasinac, trimming the squad looked perplexing for a club already struggling to muster a team to play.

Folarin Balogun and Ainsley Maitland-Niles had only just been loaned out when Arsenal told the Premier League it lacked enough players to host Tottenham last Sunday.

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Calling off a game wasn't unusual for England's top division. Applying coronavirus regulations has seen 22 postponements since last month as the spread of the omicron variant has depleted squads and shut training facilities.

But when the request to postpone the north London derby against Tottenham went to the league on Friday, Arsenal had only one declared coronavirus case in the squad. Instead, with five players at the African Cup of Nations and injury absentees, Arsenal successfully convinced the league to call off its game against Tottenham in a stretching of the pandemic policies not intended for this scenario.

"The decision to postpone the game was very, very strange," Tottenham manager Antonio Conte said, with a few days to reflect on his frustration. "We have a big problem to solve and it’s COVID, but only about this situation can you decide to postpone, not for other situations.

"Honestly, it’s my first time in my life -- and I’ve had a bit of experience in football -- to see postponed games because of injuries."

Regulations state a game must go ahead if a club has 13 fit outfield players plus a goalkeeper. But confusion over the application of the rules has created a growing sense of farce. The league hasn't said why Arsenal wasn't told to promote