Mauricio Pochettino has said it will be “tough” for Tottenham to complete the move to their new stadium before the end of the season.
The club announced another delay to the £1bn project when it was confirmed this week the north London derby against Arsenal on 2 March will now take place at Wembley. Spurs were originally due to move into their new 62,000-seat stadium for the start of the current campaign. The move has been put back on numerous occasions, and there are only five home games remaining after the Arsenal game.
Pochettino, whose side remain in the title race and sit five points behind the leaders, Manchester City, has reiterated on several occasions that he wants to move as soon as possible but now fears it may not happen in time. Asked if he still expected to relocate before the end of the season, he replied: “My gut feeling [is that] it will be tough but I hope and I wish to be in the new stadium.
“I don’t want to think too much. My wish is to play at the new stadium before the end of the season. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see if you can trust more in my gut or the capacity to finish the stadium before the end of the season.
“Of course the people are going to be disappointed to play at Wembley, not because they don’t like Wembley – we all love Wembley – but because we expect to already be playing in our new stadium.
“That’s why it’s going to be massive to play the last five Premier League games in our new stadium. I hope that happens, I believe it can be very positive to move to the new stadium.”
Pochettino spoke of his disappointment that their Premier League match with Leicester has been moved to Sunday for television when Spurs face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday. Harry Kane will not be fit for either of those games because of an ankle injury, but Pochettino believes the England captain could be back for the trip to Burnley on 23 February.
“Now he is here, he is doing well, he is doing fantastic, you know very well we need to stop him every day because he wants to be ahead of his recovery,” Pochettino said. “He’s very optimistic and determined to play as soon as possible – it’s unbelievable but he’s doing well, if you see him he’s nearly ready to play but we need to be realistic too and of course to take the best decision.
“He’s so close to coming back again. Not for Sunday, not for Wednesday but we will see after.”