English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur has reportedly taken up an option with the Football Association (FA) to play its home games at Wembley through to December 15, amid ongoing delays with its new stadium.
The Daily Mail today (Thursday) reported that the agreement will run through to the Premier League match against Burnley on December 15, with the following fixture being the Boxing Day encounter against Bournemouth on December 26.
Tottenham is said to consider the latest agreement, running at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds, as a safety net amid hope the club will be able to christen its new stadium before December 15.
Tottenham has not commented on the latest report. On Monday it confirmed that its home Premier League match against Manchester City will now take place at Wembley on Monday, October 29. The match had originally been scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 28. Tottenham said that there is a possibility that the new stadium will be ready by this point, but the club would not know for certain until much closer to the date of the game.
The club said it had therefore agreed with the Premier League that, in the interests of “clarity and certainty”, the match will be held at Wembley to allow both sets of supporters enough time to make travel arrangements.
Tottenham also confirmed that all three of its UEFA Champions League group stage matches – against Barcelona on October 3, PSV Eindhoven on November 6 and Inter Milan on November 28 – will be held at Wembley.
Tottenham confirmed last month that the new stadium would not open on September 15 as originally planned for the Premier League match against Liverpool due to issues relating to the ground’s critical safety systems. This match, along with the game against Cardiff City on October 6, had already been moved to Wembley.
Tottenham last week applied for special dispensation to play the September 24 Carabao Cup match against Watford at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes. Wembley is unavailable during that week, leaving Tottenham with a hosting dilemma.
Stadium MK is the home of League Two football club MK Dons. The board of the English Football League is meeting today to consider Tottenham’s request.
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