Spurs to Request Early Games Be Played Away From New Stadium at Start of Next Season

Tottenham Hotspur have been tipped by BBC Sport to request that their opening Premier League home games of 2018/19 not be played at the club's brand new stadium as the finishing touches are put on the state-of-the-art venue.

Spurs have been playing home games at Wembley Stadium this season after the old White Hart Lane was demolished to allow the project to be completed.

And while the agreement to play at Wembley will not be continued beyond the end of the current campaign, the club is set to ask that they not be given any home fixtures in the opening weeks of next season to allow breathing room for final details to straightened out.

Rather than the project being behind schedule, it is said that Spurs are simply enacting a long standing contingency plan that should protect them against any late unforeseen delays that crop up between now and the planned completion.

All clubs have until next month to notify the Premier League of any dates that could potentially cause problems to hosting games.

Specifically asking for a handful of games to be played away is certainly not unheard of. Liverpool played three consecutive Premier League away games to kick off of 2016/17 while work on Anfield's redeveloped main stand was completed.

As their time at Wembley comes to a close, Spurs will host Rochdale, Huddersfield and Juventus at the national stadium in three different competitions in the coming week.

They will then have just four more Premier League games left under the arch, with additional fixtures if they continue to progress in the FA Cup and Champions League.