Tottenham’s Europa League game against Qarabag delayed by 35 minutes amid ‘severe travel disruption’ in north London
- The match was initially scheduled to start at 8 p.m. at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- It was postponed until 8:35 PM after Qarabag arrived much later than planned
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Tottenham’s home match against Qarabag in the UEFA Europa League has been postponed due to travel chaos in north London.
The match in the wet Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was initially scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
However, that time was moved to 8:35 PM, after the away team had not even arrived at 7:20 PM, while tens of thousands of fans also arrived late.
Ultimately, the Qarabag players and staff arrived at the ground about fifteen minutes before the initial kick-off.
Spurs informed fans of 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 encourage fans attending tonight to plan their travel accordingly.”
Thursday’s match between Tottenham and Qarabag in the UEFA Europa League was postponed
News of the postponed 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 postponement of the kick-off was subsequently confirmed by the club at 7.16pm, with ‘serious travel disruption’ given as the reason.
Spurs published their teamsheet at 6.47pm when it was announced that manager Ange Postecoglou had named a strong starting XI.
Postecoglou made six changes from the side that started 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 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 to TNT Sports in a pre-match interview about his excitement about starting the European campaign.
“Really excited, it’s something all the players are looking forward to,” he said. ‘We want to make a good start.’
On his recent form, Johnson – who has scored two goals in his last two games for Spurs – added: “It’s about getting into the right positions – we have a very creative team.
‘I was able to do that in the last two games. We have achieved two good performances and we want to continue them.
“I think this is a good opportunity for us and we have a great squad. Evenings like tonight are a good way to get the team going.’