Saturday’s Women’s NLD postponed amidst Spurs COVID outbreak

Wednesday’s FA WSL match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at Kingsmeadow was postponed the morning of the match due to an outbreak of positive COVID-19 tests within the Tottenham squad. It was clearly the right decision — the health and safety of the players, staff, and match attendees are obviously of paramount importance. At the time, we postulated here that this might not be the only match that’s in danger of being postponed, since Spurs were scheduled to host Arsenal in the Women’s North London Derby on Saturday, three days after the Chelsea match.

Today, the club confirmed that the NLD will not take place as scheduled.

Tottenham Hotspur Women can confirm that our Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) fixture against Arsenal, on Saturday 26 March at 2.15pm, has been postponed following an FA meeting this morning (Friday).

The Club requested the match to be rearranged following a significant number of positive COVID-19 cases within the squad.

The FA took the decision to postpone the game following guidance from medical advisers, with the health of players and staff the priority. The fixture will be rescheduled in due course.

As with our other affected fixture, against Chelsea in the WSL, we shall update supporters with more information as soon as it is available.

We should like to apologise to everyone at Arsenal and Chelsea and to both their supporters and ours for any inconvenience caused.

We should also like to thank both clubs for their understanding during these challenging times.

This is entirely unsurprising. It seemed pretty unlikely that if enough Tottenham players reported a positive test to postpone the Chelsea match that they would be recovered and match fit enough for another football match just three days later. Considering the nature of the match — a major rivalry game — and with what feels like plenty of time in the schedule to find a replacement date, this feels like an absolute no brainer.

Tottenham still have to play two matches against Chelsea — both of the matches have now been postponed — and the Arsenal match, and all three of them are huge for Spurs’ chances to finish in third place in the WSL this season and qualify for a Champions League place.