Today I should have been writing a pre-match blog previewing our home game against Wolves.
I planned to moan about us having to play twice within 48 hours; but how our exciting youngsters and good form should carry us through against a Wolves side with just 1 win in 7.
Then the news broke on Boxing Day that the game was to be suspended due to Wolves not having enough players.
Over the last few weeks, games being suspended due to Covid have been a frustration of mine.
We see teams getting games called off due to 5 or 6 players ill. In Wolves case they have 6 players with Covid. Is this really enough to get a game called off?
During the course of a regular season, there is always a team that has more injuries than others. When we played Leeds United a couple of weeks ago, they had 9 injuries. The game went ahead.
Why does having 6 players with Covid get a game postponed whilst a team with the same level of injuries has to play on.
Some will say “it’s an illness” but the Premier League do not postpone games due to influence or food poisoning.
And Premier League teams have large squads.
Before the season commences they submit an A list and B list to the league. In the case of Wolves, these two lists contain 76 players.
So out of 76 players registered to play in the Premier League, less than 10% have Covid. They still have over 60 players to pick from.
And these are all senior players. Over the age of 16.
The problem for those Premier League sides applying to get games postponed is not that they do not have enough players available; but they do not deem their younger players to be good enough.
Why should games be postponed due to a club not having good enough players? If that was justification to postponed games, Norwich City wouldn’t have played a game this season.
And Wolves in particular is an interesting case.
The argument being used at the moment seems to be that sides do not have 13 outfield players and one keeper available to them.
They have 6 players with Covid and a further 6 injured. But we should disregard the injured players as that happens during the course of the season.
As discussed above, Wolves have 76 players registered to play in the Premier League. So they could field 13 outfield players and a keeper if they were forced too.
If the argument is that they can not field the 14 total players from their List A due to injury and Covid, then this is their fault.
Wolves only named 21 players in their List A. You can have 25.
They named their full contingent of non-home grown players (17) but just 4 home grown players.
Two of their senior players are keepers, leaving them with just 19 “senior” outfield players.
That means Wolves only need to have 7 players out injured or with Covid to then be able to claim that they do not have enough players to fulfil a game.
Yet they made the active decision of not having enough senior players through their squad. Had they had the full 25, would they have been able to fulfil the game?
The answer is yes.
Had they had 25 List A players, with 12 out with Covid and injury they would have 13 fit players. It would therefore only require one promotion from List B to have the 13+1.
They have literally decided to have a smaller squad.
It is an advantage to have a smaller squad if everyone is fit as your wage budget can be shared amongst less players. That allows you a better quality of player but a lower quantity of player.
But it then means if you get a few injuries you do not have the strength in depth to back them up.
It seems the decision to not have a big senior squad is currently being rewarded.
The Premier League cocked up by beginning to allows teams to postpone games and it opened the flood gates.
Crystal Palace requested their game against Tottenham be suspended due to Covid; And then made just 1 change from their previous game.
For me, every team can fulfil every fixture. Their List A & B squads combined gives them more than enough players.
The Premier League should have enforced their own rules. If a club decides to not fulfil a fixture, they forfeit the result.
That would punish the likes of Wolves who made the active decision to not have enough senior players and do not think their List B players to be good enough to play for them. Or it would force them to rely on those youngsters, majority of whom are over 18.
If Wolves wish to postponed the game, Arsenal should be awarded a 3-0 win.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Arsenal fans are gutter urchins they make sewer rats look good, just because they are in landan they fink they own the league, outside just like ALL landan clubs they would just be another run of the mill club.
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I take it English isn’t your natural language,
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I thought so, too. 😐
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Whether you’re right or not but I support the decision to postpone the wolves match.Even Arsenal needed a rest .
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Let’s call it London
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Don’t tell me the bum who wrote this garbage got paid
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Lol.. utter dross I tell ya
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“” That allows you a better quality of player but a lower quantity of player””
What?
That about sums up the nonsense in this article
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The only reason the ars6le fans want 3 points because they know we will beat them
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Hope you feel the same when you get hit by COVID.
Such sweet irony if you missed out on a European place because of it.
Remember Europe .
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Now all comments are full of shit!!!! Give a better assessment of your opinion than criticizing a suggestion. Give a counter view and that is called good debate.
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We have been! First three games of the season.
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We did get hit by covid first game of the season away to Brentford and were forced to play the game with 9 players testing positive
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Hey mate we lost our players due to covid at the start when we lost our first 3 games so yeah imagine if we missed out on Europe 🤦🏻♂️
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Be interested on your thoughts if the shoe was on the other foot!
Are Wolves falling foul of the rules? No
If the game went ahead and Wolves won you’d moan that there was not enough time between matches 😂
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Arsenal did play the first two games with similar numbers of injuries and covid cases. As fellow football fans, we all need consistency from FA. Not us against you. I am sure there are other cases in which you were punished.
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We had a COVID outbreak at the start of the season and had to fulfil all our games! Why should it be any different for Wolves. Arsenal lost the first three games and I’m not saying the reason was COVID hitting the first team but it didn’t help.
Plus side was that we gave a few just outside the first team a chance.
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I think any team calling a game off for covid should be an automatic 3-0 loss. It’s up to the teams to educate their players so they don’t get the virus in the first place. Some teams seem to be using covid tactically to ease fixture congestion currently. An auto loss would definitely solve this.
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Great great great and utterly sensible and true article.
This is pure common sense. Teams are taki g advantage of the postoonents to try to get all their injured players back.
That has nothing to do.with COVID which in itself is a load of BS becuase the Omicron variant is simply a mild flu and all the sheeple out there just gooble it up becuase they are all utterly brainwashed.
Time for people to wake you fuck up.
Before anyone starts please check the UN stata for amount of people who die by flu as compared to COVID. The numbers are down forthise who die by COVID and apparently noone gets flu anymore.
Just all wake the fuck up
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wolves also have extra injuries on top of the covid cases.
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What a complete wanker
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Wolves have a smaller squad than most teams in the prem league. Watford postponed wolves game so should we get 3 points for that then? All of wolves players have had their booster 100% so there is nothing more the players could have done. Move on!
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And if the game was played and yow got beat again, yow’d be wishing it wor postponed. 3 points for not kicking a ball, desperation, let’s see if a single player supports that.
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Wolves postponed after seeing how we decapitated Norwich away (they also had a depleted squad). Wolves were petrified we might hit them for six.
Of course we are complaining about playing within 48 hours of the last game!!! How many teams do you know are forced to do that ??
After looking at Wolves’ depleted numbers, I would have thought the Premier league would say it balances it out because Arsenal would not have a rest in between games while Wolves had 9 days to prepare for Arsenal.
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Lol, if City, Liverpool and chelsea could only score 2 goals in total, you muppets have no chance of scoring 6, third best defence in the league, do you even watch football 🤣
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FOOL!!! You seem to forget why they wanted it cancelled…they were scared they will be properly drummed. Do you think Arsenal would have scored 4 and 5 at Leeds and at Norwich respectively if those teams had a fully fit squad??
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Whoever wrote this would be no good in a war. Nor do they understand the impact and a threat a virus can bring. Or maybe they’ve never really had any major trauma in there life.. Oh wait your an arsenal supporter so I guess that’s always been there… So sorry. Yours sincerely. A. Wolves-Fan
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Its funny when Arsenal had 7 players (4 of them had Covid) out at the beginning of the season and were bottom of the league no one mentioned the virus. Pep Guardiola was the first to remind you lot and the silly media that actually Arsenal had a lot of players out, and them being bottom is a false position.
Some of us have already caught the virus mate (and survived), some of us survived 3rd stage cancer so don’t tell me about trauma. Their are rules about managing this virus so that we can still continue as normal a life as possible. But don’t lump injuries with the virus so you can submit an even more depleted squad to the premier League.
This also answers Daz’s point. Being a lower team with less budget is no excuse. Once you submit your squad to the premier league at the beginning of the season its done. Why not go ahead and complain that City and Chelsea should be struck off because they spend way too much money on players, and this just isn’t fair? The rest of us do play young and untested players….you are in the premier league, just get on with it and stop trying to get your match cancelled by adding injuries to a Covid situation.
Wolves definitely took advantage here and when I said six, it was only tongue in cheek. With a fully fit Wolves squad Arsenal will struggle to get one goal. In the past Arsenal regularly fielded an injury hit squad. But we still had to get on with it so stop whinging.
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Let the FOOL answer your question, yes I do think that Arsenal could have scored 4 and 5 at Leeds and Norwich without them having depleted squads because lots have teams have and do and that’s why they are where they are in the league in case you haven’t noticed. Being a lower team with less of a budget isn’t an excuse? What are you on? You spent the most money on transfers this season, tried to start your own elitist league with all the other self obsessed money grabbing “top clubs” , most of who still live on past history rather than recent achievements and the only way to keep your status is to grind the peasants who dare to come close to the top spots down by insisting they field a team of cleaners and kitchen staff so that you can get an easy 3 points to keep you up there. As to whinging, I can still remember how much you lot whinged the season when Villa and Wolves did the double over you how the refs conspired against you with decisions. Take a long look in the mirror gooners 🤣
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A wolves fan telling an Arsenal fan “it’s always been there?” I’m sure you have accepted the fact that Wolves would never compete for anything, then buried down your head and found your solace.🤣😅
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Dont you just waffle on, its ok for the big top 4 -6 teams, they have more money, top players and bigger squads in order to replace players that are out with covid with just as good players, teams in the lower half of the table have to replace their top players with younger and sometimes untested players, which really doesnt make it fair.
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Not our fault Wolverhampton is a poverty stricken shithole my man. Of course your budget will be small, it matches the mind-numbing shit stain of a club you support.
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Whilst wolves are well backed one significant factor in them carrying a small squad and stunting development on the pitch is surely the divisiveness of Financial Fair. Arsenal can wast a relative fortune in building up a large and expensive squad against the background of a scheme that effectively comforts the current elite from any serious challenge. I think the comments in this article are unfair and quite frankly elitist but that is not unusual.
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Get over it. Wolves had a game postponed against Watford after they couldn’t field enough players. Everyone had a little grumble and then got on with their lives. It only seems like Arsenal fans who throw the toys out of the pram.
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Fuck off you prick
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Gabi gives me prime Sanchez vibes, the amount of work rates he puts in, tracking back, gaining possession, and constant pressure on the oppositions are unreal. The scout who discovered Gabi from the 4th tier of the Brazilian league deserves a pay rise.
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