Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has suggested that the decision to postpone Sunday’s North London derby against Arsenal was “strange”.
Spurs were due to host Mikel Arteta’s side in the latest North London derby over the weekend. This game was postponed though due to Arsenal’s ongoing issues.
On Friday, Arsenal released a statement that said: “We can confirm we have made an application to the Premier League for the postponement of Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur.
Christian Eriksen and a potential return we can all embrace
“We have reluctantly taken this step but we have many players currently unavailable across our squad as a result of Covid, injuries and players away with their countries at AFCON.
“We will provide more information as soon as it’s available.”
This request was accepted by the Premier League and this decision was criticised by Gary Neville.
As quoted by Football London, Conte said he was “very surprised” that injuries played a part in the postponement:
“I think the club made a statement and they showed our disappointment at the decision. It was a strange decision.
“I must admit that this is the first time in my life that a league postponed games due to injuries. I’m very surprised.
“My feeling is that when there is the situation to play you have to play. Normally to postpone games is due to international duty. We have a big problem to solve that is Covid, but only in this situation. For other situations, honestly this is my first time in my life.”
Conte went onto insist that Spurs “need to do something” in the transfer market:
“I think that we have to continue to try to have a good result in the league. We know that only after the international break the injured players are ready to come back and it will be difficult to come back from this period.
“It’s not easy to come back from this period when you have many injuries in your squad. Then we’ll see if anything comes from this period in the transfer market.
“I know that the transfer window in January is always very difficult and it is more simple when you start the season to buy important players.
“In January it is not easy,but at the same time we know very well that if there is the opportunity and also if it’s not the best opportunity, but we need to do something.
“Also if I repeat that this could not be the best opportunity but I think that are in a situation where we have to try to implement the squad because the squad is not so big.”
The post ‘I’m very surprised’ – Conte speaks out on ‘strange’ NLD postponement appeared first on Football365.