WSL clash between Brighton and Arsenal postponed
By Ali Rampling
The WSL clash between Brighton and Arsenal on Sunday evening has been postponed due to a frozen pitch at the Broadfield Stadium.
The fixture becomes the third WSL match to fall foul to the conditions this weekend, after Tottenham vs Leicester was called off on Saturday evening, and Chelsea against Liverpool was postponed six minutes into the clash at Kingsmeadow.
Just three fixtures - Manchester City vs Aston Villa, Everton vs West Ham and Reading vs Manchester United - went ahead over the course of the weekend.
Second from bottom Brighton's clash at home to third place Arsenal had been subject to a pitch inspection at 14:30, following minus temperatures overnight.
Brighton confirmed that the pitch was found to be frozen, and a new date and time will be confirmed 'as soon as possible'.
The match had been scheduled to kick off at 18:45, and was due to be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
The number of matches postponed in the WSL this weekend has triggered criticism from players, with Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema echoing Emma Hayes' call for clubs to demand undersoil heating, and Aston Villa captain Rachel Corsie stating that club's mains stadiums should be made available for women's sides more often to avoid a repeat of games being postponed due to frozen pitches.
Chelsea's Kadeisha Buchanan called it 'mind boggling' that games and training at this level were being cancelled due to the pitch conditions, while Liverpool's Megan Campbell labelled the manner in which the Reds' fixture with Chelsea was postponed as 'unacceptable'.