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Tottenham Hotspur have struck a new deal to use Wembley Stadium for the rest of the 2018/19 season as a contingency plan in case their new stadium is not ready.

Spurs' new 62,062-seater ground is nearing completion in many aspects, internally and externally, however with crucial testing taking place this month to get to the root of widespread problems with the complex wiring in the stadium's fire safety systems, the north London club cannot take any chances when it comes to the rest of their home matches.

football.london understands that Tottenham are still aiming to open their new stadium this season, however a firm contingency plan has had to be put in place to negate the problems they have faced already and give assurances to the Premier League and the FA that all their home fixtures will be fulfilled in either event.

Last month Spurs had to play Manchester City and PSV Eindhoven on a damaged Wembley pitch due to the scheduling issues caused by needing to switch the game against Pep Guardiola's men to the national stadium at relatively late notice. That meant the City game was held just 24 hours after the NFL match between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The club also had to gain special permission to play their Carabao Cup match against Watford in September at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes as Wembley was unavailable due to Anthony Joshua's world title fight against Alexander Povetkin.

The new deal struck with Wembley means that should Spurs' stadium's wiring issues prove to be worse than feared, the club will have a guaranteed base for home matches in the Premier League and any potential future home cup matches, domestic or European.

In addition, Wembley National Stadium Ltd are set to submit a planning application next week to Brent Council to increase the capacity of their remaining matches there.

The current restriction on events at Wembley means that, after the Chelsea match on November 24, all the club's remaining fixtures at the national stadium would need to be capped at a capacity of 51,000.

The new planning application to Brent Council will ask for a change to the restrictions should the club require them, and will ask for the minimum capacity to be raised to 62,000 - similar to Tottenham's new stadium's capacity - with limited requests for 90,000 should a full house be required.

The council granted special dispensation last season for Wembley to increase the number of events held there at full capacity due to Tottenham's tenure.

Spurs are expected to make a further announcement on the progress at the new stadium early next month when they have a clearer picture of how the ongoing testing has gone.

Many areas of the ground are now completed or nearing it and chairman Daniel Levy invited Mauricio Pochettino and his staff, and heads of department across the club for a tour of the facilities on Thursday night, which included a spectacular display of the stadium's lighting and sound system among other events.

Pochettino told football.london on Saturday evening after the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace: "I think you use the word stunning, we were stunned. You expect that you are going to find a good, nice stadium but when I saw the stadium it is like ‘Wow’.

"Your face, it is difficult to talk because it is a beautiful, amazing...I think will be an amazing place to enjoy football for our players and fans. I am a little bit jealous of our players because to play and be in a changing room like this or be in a place like this it is amazing, massive.

"I would like to be 20 and be a player that Tottenham offer a contract to play because it will be amazing. Again I say to our fans patience because it is going to be the best stadium in Europe."

The fans and the club have certainly had to show patience this season with the stadium's opening moved twice, first from the start of the season to a proposed September 15 opening for the fixture and now to a yet undetermined date in 2019.

Spurs are still hopeful that the club's fans will be watching football in the enormous new ground before this season is over but have now made sure there is a firm contingency plan in place in case the worst happens.

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