Arsene Wenger is unsure whether Tottenham will be able to fill Wembley this season.
With Tottenham’s new £400m home stadium currently under construction, Arsenal’s north London rivals have had to set up camp in at Wembley for the 2017/18 season.
This is a move the Gunners made in 1998 – 2000 in order to demonstrate that they could sell out larger crowds ahead of their decision to build the Emirates, as well as to maximise revenue.
It was only for their Champions League matches and, as Spurs learned last term, for whatever reason, results can suffer.
However, despite poor results, including a 4-2 loss to Barcelona, Arsenal fans still managed to pack out old Wembley, regularly attracting crowds of 60,000.
This is a feat that Arsene Wenger is convinced will be one of Tottenham’s greatest challenges.
“For a while you had the problem of the quality of the pitch but that does not exist anymore. Today the pitch is of a similar quality to everywhere,” Wenger said.
“So after that the difficultly is to fill it. It is nothing more. In England we are not used to playing with half a stadium empty.
“So can they fill it in every game? I don’t know. But a full Wembley stadium is fantastic.”
So as not to put a strain on local residents, Spurs have been restricted to 27 full capacity games this season, which covers their 19 league matches and then eight cup/Champions League clashes.
Last season, they were reduced to just five full capacity matches.
The new Wembley holds up to 90,000 fans so Wenger’s probably right. I mean, do that many Spurs fans actually exist?
Tottenham’s first ‘home’ match doesn’t arrive until matchday two when they host Chelsea on 20 August at 4pm.