Spurs could be running out of time to move into their new stadium this season after announcing their home match against Arsenal on March 2 will be held at Wembley.
Remedial works on the safety systems at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are reaching a conclusion and once those are completed, the final stages of fire safety testing can be undertaken. The club will then need to earn a safety certificate.
According to James Olley of the London Evening Standard, the Premier League are still happy to allow the Lilywhites to move into their new home before the end of the current campaign but want assurances as to the number of games that will be played there.
The report suggests the north Londoners will need to promise that at least five home matches can be staged. After Arsenal, they have remaining home fixtures against Crystal Palace, Brighton, Huddersfield, West Ham, and Everton.
The league’s governing body are pressing for an official announcement soon and are reluctant to allow Spurs to keep opposing teams – and indeed, travelling fans – guessing on a game-by-game basis.
Prior to Thursday’s statement, Daniel Levy’s previous communications have dealt with fixtures in bulk, most recently affecting their three Premier League games against Watford, Newcastle, and Leicester.
It was always expected that the north London derby would be relocated, especially as the Metropolitan police had concerns about using such a volatile occasion as the curtain-raiser given the potential of teething problems with security.
In a further complication, two of the teams they are still to play, Crystal Palace and Brighton, are still in the FA Cup. That means that, should those sides continue to progress, their trips to Spurs will be rearranged from their original dates.
The matter of the Champions League is less pressing. UEFA decided before the knockout stages that if Tottenham committed to playing at Wembley in the last-16, they should stay there for the remainder of this season’s competition, should they progress past Borussia Dortmund.
Fans have been making their feelings about Wembley known by voting with their feet. Fernando Llorente’s dramatic late winner against Watford was witnessed by a crowd of just 29,164, the lowest yet for a Premier League fixture at the national stadium. Before Christmas, the win over Southampton attracted just 33,012.
Supporters are divided on whether the club needs to return home as soon as possible, or whether to write off the rest of the season and target an August opening date. That would avoid the disruption a move may bring, with Spurs currently just five points off the top of the table and with a game in hand over current leaders Manchester City.
There are a number of factors to take into account, including the expense of renting Wembley and the fact that Mauricio Pochettino and his players are desperate to move sooner rather than later.
At present, there is no reason to believe there will be any further delays. If they do persist, however, the decision could ultimately be taken out of Spurs’ hands.
