Granit Xhaka has praised Micah Richards for sticking up for Arsenal, following the media circus surrounding the North London derby postponement.

After Micah Richards suggested Arsenal were being unfairly targeted for postponing their recent clash with Tottenham Hotspur, Granit Xhaka has spoken out in agreement.

“It’s nothing new for me. Every time this football club does something, everyone has to say something,” Xhaka said.

“I love the comment from Micah Richards, what he said about it. He said every time Arsenal does something, everyone has to speak about it, but nobody speaks about what other clubs did.”

Arsenal requested the postponement of the North London derby as they didn’t have 13 outfield players available to feature in the match. Per the Premier League rules, that’s an automatic postponement.

That didn’t stop the outrage machine from going into overdrive. Never mind the other 20 games postponed under the new rules, Arsenal’s first request is obviously the tipping point.

Micah Richards argued the Gunners were being targeted, despite doing the same thing any other club would do in their situation.

“When it’s Arsenal, everyone wants to lump in, for some reason,” Richards said. “Arsenal have been in great form, and by the rules have done nothing wrong.

“Let’s be honest, other clubs would do the same thing as well. This is not an Arsenal thing.

“If you know that you’ve not got senior players fit, every team in the Premier League would look after themselves, and if they say they wouldn’t then they’re lying.”

We’ve already seen plenty of examples of clubs acting in their self-interest using the new rules.

If given the choice between starting Charlie Patino at right-wing and Pablo Mari at right-back (which was the Daily Mail’s suggestion to get the game to go ahead) or postponing it, it would have been bizarre for Arsenal not to submit their request.