New Tottenham stadium: Spurs will return to Wembley next season amid construction delays

Tottenham are set to confirm on Thursday that they will stage at least one Premier League home game at Wembley next season.

As revealed by Standard Sport on Tuesday , Tottenham have been given until 6pm on Friday to say whether – or how often – they plan to use the national stadium in 2018-19, amid uncertainty about when their new £850million stadium will be completed.

Tottenham are likely to start next term with three consecutive away fixtures to allow extra time for construction work to be finished on the 62,062 arena. A home game at Wembley would provide further breathing space in that respect.

About 3,000 contractors are working around the clock to try to finish the project on time but if Spurs believe the stadium will still be unfinished after the first international break of the season, featuring England’s friendly against Switzerland on September 11, they will need to start switching home games to Wembley.

To play in two different home stadiums in the same season, Spurs would need permission from the Premier League board of outgoing chief executive Richard Scudamore and non-executive directors Kevin Beeston and Claudia Arney.

It is understood the club is relaxed about obtaining this, even if it could provoke anger from Premier League rivals.

Spurs have already sold tens of thousands of season-tickets for the new stadium and there is concern among fan groups that returning to Wembley for a short period could result in administrative difficulties.

Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Spurs could also decide to play any number of their Champions League group games at the 90,000-capacity venue before moving to their yet-to-be-named stadium for the Champions League or Europa League knockouts.

The club has held talks with UEFA, who are unworried about the situation and no decision has been made. Spurs have scheduled the first test event in the new stadium for August – likely to be an open training session at half-capacity – and they will have to hold another test event at closer to full-capacity to gain a safety certificate from the FA.

The first NFL game at the new state-of-the-art Spurs stadium is scheduled for October 14 but, if necessary, the NFL could move the game to Twickenham, which is available.

Spurs had an option to spend the whole of next season at Wembley, which has now expired and is not being reconsidered.

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