© EuroFootball.com
London club has submitted an official request to the Premier League to replay the last Sunday match against the city neighbor. Last Saturday, ten team players got food poisoned, and on the same day, the team suffered a defeat in the last round of the championship with a score of 2-1, conceding the fourth place and the opportunity to test their strength in the Champions League next season against another capital club, Arsenal.
"It can be said that the last match against West Ham was as important as a cup final," said Tottenham club president Daniel Levy in an open letter to Premier League chief Dave Richards. - "Unfortunately, unexpectedly circumstances spoiled our chances to go into an equal battle."
Levy also added that many clubs support Tottenham's request, so he hopes to replay the mentioned match: "The majority of Premier League teams supported our request to replay the match since under normal conditions such matches should have been postponed. So we have submitted an official request to replay the match."
Tottenham had to collect the same number of points as their opponents Arsenal club, which on Sunday met with the Wigan team and defeated them. A victory would have allowed the Tottenham team to maintain the fourth position in the standings and would have guaranteed a place in the Champions League in the next season. Nevertheless, the experienced defeat and the victory won by the Gunners against Wigan with a 4-2 score pushed Tottenham to the fifth position, and instead of the dreamed Champions League, they had to settle for a ticket to the UEFA Europa League.
Although the Premier League representatives allowed Tottenham to reschedule the match to a later time on the same day so that the players would have more time to recover from the illness, the police rejected approving a match that would start later than 6 pm - which is only two hours later than the actual time. Understandably, Tottenham could have been resolute and independently postponed the match to the next day, but then they would have faced Premier League sanctions, or even points deductions.
However, it is highly doubtful whether this match will be replayed, as instead of rescheduling the match, Tottenham players ran onto the pitch, and disputes arose only later. Premier League officials stated that the contents of D. Levy's letter would be discussed at the meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Furthermore, a league representative told the press: "Tottenham has played their match and when it comes to the reasons and responsibilities that concern the Premier League, the result will not change."
Levy is convinced that league officials made an ill-considered decision: "We were presented only one option - to reschedule the match by two hours. In other words, our players were deprived of the opportunity to play in the Champions League. What's more, this whole scandal disappointed our fans and made them doubt justice and objectivity. Players were running around the field who were unwell but did not want to disappoint their loyal fans and colleagues. The league leadership condemned us to defeat and gave Arsenal a huge advantage in the fight for the fourth place. The Premier League made an ill-considered decision by agreeing to consider rescheduling the match but not allowing it to be played the next day."
After the unexpected food poisoning of players, the Food Quality Inspection Service has already taken food samples from the Marriott Hotel in East London, where Tottenham players were staying, but an official police investigation into a possible crime has not been started.
