- The game was initially set to begin at 8pm at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- It was pushed back to 8.35pm after Qarabag arrived much later than planned
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Tottenham’s home game against Qarabag in the UEFA Europa League has been delayed due to travel chaos in north London.
The match at a wet Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was initially scheduled to kick off at 8pm.
However, that time was pushed back to 8.35pm after the away team had not even arrived by 7.20pm, while tens of thousands of fans were also running late.
The Qarabag players and staff eventually got to the ground around a quarter of an hour before the initial kick-off time.
Spurs updated fans about travel issues at 5.16pm with a tweet that read: ‘Please note, the A10 is currently closed in both directions north of the Great Cambridge roundabout. We advise fans attending tonight to plan their travel accordingly.’
Thursday’s game between Tottenham and Qarabag in the UEFA Europa League was delayed
News of the delayed kick-off was communicated to supporters via the stadium’s giant screens
A second update 70 minutes later added: ‘London Overground services from Cheshunt and Enfield Town to White Hart Lane are currently suspended.’
The delay to kick-off was then confirmed by the club at 7.16pm with ‘severe travel disruption’ given as the reason.
Spurs published their teamsheet at 6.47pm when it was revealed that manager Ange Postecoglou had named a strong starting XI.
Postecoglou made six changes from the side that began Saturday’s 3-1 win over Brentford, but still included the likes of Son Heung-min, Dominic Solanke, Yves Bissouma, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario.
Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancu were all included among the substitutes.
Tottenham’s players arrived at the stadium much earlier than the opposition on Thursday
There was a lot of rain in the air as Peter Crouch (right) interviewed Ange Postecoglou (left)
Another Spurs starter was Brennan Johnson, who spoke of his excitement at getting the European campaign underway in a pre-match interview with TNT Sports.
‘Really excited it is something all the players are looking forward to,’ he said. ‘We are looking to get a good start.’
On his recent form, Johnson – who has scored two goals in his last two games for Spurs – added: ‘It is about getting in the the right positions – we have a really creative team.
‘The last two games I have been able to do that. We have had two good performances and we are looking to carry that on.
‘I think it’s a good opportunity for us and we have a great squad. Nights like tonight are a good way of getting the squad going.’
