The Italian manager has expressed his displeasure after a crucial match was postponed at the start of the year.
Tottenham’s home match against Arsenal was postponed due to a Covid-19 request from their rivals ahead of the re-arranged north London derby, according to Antonio Conte.
The two teams were scheduled to meet on January 16 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but the Gunners requested that the game be postponed due to a lack of available personnel.
Despite having only one positive coronavirus case in their squad, the Gunners’ request was granted, prompting the Premier League to change their postponement rules, but Conte is still upset with the decision.
What has Conte said about Arsenal?
“To speak now about what happened in the past is not useful,” the Spurs boss told a press conference.
“For sure, it was very strange that our game was postponed for covid and Arsenal didn’t have one player with covid.
“We lost a game 3-0 [to Rennes] because Premier League didn’t want to move our game when we had nine or 10 players with covid.
“At that time, it was unfair what happened, but now this is the past and we have to be focused on the present and try to get the best result.
- Gabriel Jesus ‘likes the Arsenal project,’ but the Gunners will face competition from six other clubs for the Manchester City striker.
- Mane confirms his happiness at Liverpool after scoring the game-winning goal against Aston Villa.
“I think this could be a good chance for us to get three points against their whole team because if we played in January they were without many players because they were committed at the African Cup [of Nations] and injuries. I think football is wonderful. Also this type of game it’s right to play with two teams and all the players available.”
Spurs and Arsenal face off for top-four spot
Arsenal are currently four points ahead of Tottenham in fourth place and will seal a place in next season’s Champions League if they beat their old foes on Thursday.
Spurs will be hoping to keep the race for fourth alive, but Conte won’t consider the 2021-22 campaign to be a failure if his side end up missing out, given the situation they were in when he joined the club in November.
“I knew very well the situation wasn’t good [when I arrived] and only a crazy person could imagine that with two games to go we’d be in the race for a place in the Champions League,” said Conte.
“The club didn’t ask me to go for a place in the Champions League or Europa League. They appointed me to try to improve the situation.
“Now we have to be proud that after a difficult season in many aspects for the club, we’re in this race. I worked very hard with my staff and my players to improve the team and to create something, to create a base and I think that we did this.”
