Tottenham Hotspur have announced they will not play at their new stadium until at least March, as the overall delay to the opening of their new 62,062 capacity home will now stretch to six months.
In a statement released on their website Spurs have confirmed that their Premier League games against Watford, Newcastle United and Leicester City will take place at their temporary home, Wembley Stadium, while they will also host Borussia Dortmund their in the UEFA Champions League last 16 first leg on Feb. 13.
If they reach the FA Cup fifth round and are drawn at home, they will also play that game at Wembley on Feb. 16/17.
That takes them up until the end of February, and their first PL game after the three aforementioned fixtures is, of course, against their bitter north London rivals Arsenal.
It is believed chairman Daniel Levy is keen to have the stadium ready for that clash with the Gunners, although according to reports local police are advising against such a huge match being the first game in the new venue as they are concerned about getting everything in place.
Levy and Spurs have opened the stadium up for recent familiarisation events, which were a big hit, but they again apologized after the latest delay.
“I should like to apologise to our fans and thank you for your continued patience,” Levy said. “The response from those who attended the familiarisation event was great to hear and reinforced our commitment to deliver an exceptional matchday experience for everyone. We shall now seek clarity in respect of building test schedules and test event dates and provide further information on these in the next two to three weeks.”
Spurs’ stadium was meant to open I’m September 2018, then December and now March, as issues with the critical safety systems have been the main reason for the continued delays.
At this point, it seems like Spurs should probably hold tight and just open up the 2019-20 campaign in their new stadium.
