Tottenham to ask Premier League if they can play opening games away

Tottenham are "likely" to request that their opening few Premier League games next season are away fixtures while they complete the redevelopment of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Chairman Daniel Levy told a meeting of club officials and members of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust that the £800m stadium remains on course to be completed this summer.

However, with season tickets going on sale soon, the club expect to enact a long-standing contingency plan to guard against any unforeseen hitches.

Tottenham are playing their home games at Wembley this season while the building work has been going on.

Speaking at the meeting on 20 February, Levy said there have been no discussions about extending that agreement.

The Premier League has recently asked clubs to notify it of any dates that are potentially problematic because of transportation or policing issues, or a clash of events.

The deadline for those to be submitted is next month.

There have been three previous instances of the Premier League agreeing to clubs' requests to play opening games away from home, which involved Blackpool, Liverpool and West Ham.

The Spurs situation is complicated by the fact they are 'paired' with Arsenal to ensure the north London rivals are not given home games in the same round of fixtures.

Any move would also require the agreement of the club Spurs are scheduled to face.

In addition, the Premier League would not allow Spurs to play home matches at more than one venue in a season, so there is no option to use Wembley as a short-term measure.