The Gunners are scheduled to make the short trip to do battle with their fierce rivals at Spurs three days after holding Liverpool to a goalless draw in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

Granit Xhaka will be suspended after he was sent off at Anfield on Friday (AEDT), while Cedric Soares and Bukayo Saka joined the injury list.

Arsenal has four players away on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, while another four missed the game on Merseyside because of injury and Martin Odegaard tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the game.

Head coach Mikel Arteta suggested in a press conference ahead of the game that Arsenal will struggle to fulfil the fixture against Antonio Conte's side.

Arsenal confirmed after that press conference that it had requested for the match to be rearranged.

A club statement read: "We can confirm we have made an application to the Premier League for the postponement of Sunday's north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur.

"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."

In order for the encounter to not go ahead, Arsenal will need to prove it does not have 13 eligible outfield players and a goalkeeper among its first-team squad or "appropriately experienced under-21 players".

Arteta said: "We had concerns already before the match against Liverpool, and after the game we had some more issues.

"We haven't been able to assess the squad yet because we couldn't fly last night, so we just arrived to the training ground and all the boys are being looked after. So we don't know."